Comprehension of mathematical problem statements Comprensión de enunciados de problemas matemáticos

Abstract

The present work is registered within the human cognition study from the approach of the information processing and the comprehensiveness to tackle the process to solve school mathematics problems in students of seventh grade Respuestas Año 14 No. 2 Diciembre 2009 ISSN 0122-820X of Nuestra Señora de la Presentación School. In this population,the process of solution of mathematic problems is analized from differents ways to enunciate the process itself , in which, better understanding for the solution will be determinated. To get this goal, the Mayers´ (1983) and Polya´s theories (1965), about the solution the problems in mathematic are tackled. Also, they submit arguments that allow to analyse the understanding from representations, Wiltrock (1990), and the representation from the mathematics, Alonso (2001), among others. The methodology that is used forms part of the qualitative investigation, in particular, descriptive and exploratory research, which taken into a heuristics and predictive function. The test taken are compared and analyzed, which allows to confirm the results according to the proposed theories afterward. In the same way, the results show that there is not only one kind of problema with a structure with specific representation with which the students understand better, but in each representation is posible to find strengths and weaknesses that form part of different aspects that can be used by teachers to improve the understanding skills in the solution of mathematic problems.