Infusing thinking skills through the use of graphic organizers in primary mathematics to enhance weak pupils’ learning

Abstract

A popular topic for local mathematical research is investigating the factors underlying difficulties encountered by weak pupils in word problem solving. With the emphasis on infusing thinking skills into English, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies in primary classes, there is now an urgent need to look for alternative ways of helping weak pupils to learn thinking skills through mathematics word problem solving. Thinking strategies such as the use of graphic organizers that build thinking skills have been successfully used to teach English, Science and Social Studies to slow learners. The organizers have helped pupils to decompose problems into smaller parts for easier understanding, to organize information into schemata and to establish links between the schemata. This paper attempts to show that weak pupils in primary school could be helped to learn and think in mathematics classes through the use of graphic organizers while solving word problems. The thinking processes illustrated are part-whole, sequencing, comparing and contrasting, decision making and predicting.