Strategies for solving problems of multiplicative structure in elementary education Estrategias de resolución de problemas de estructura multiplicativa en educación primaria

Abstract

This article examines the approaches elementary school students use to address multiplicative structure problems, including isomorphism of measures, multiplicative comparison, and product of measurements. The research utilized a quantitative methodological strategy, employing a questionnaire containing eight problems involving natural numbers to assess both the success rates of the students and the strategies they employed. The findings reveal that students exhibited a lower level of success when dealing with problems involving product of measures, largely due to their difficulty in recognizing the uniform structure underlying these problems. While algorithms emerged as the predominant strategy among students, the study also identified the use of various alternative strategies, which varied according to the magnitude of the quantities involved in the problems. This research highlights the need for improved instructional methods to help students better understand and apply consistent problem-solving structures across different types of multiplicative problems.