Mathematical thinking Skills of Students

with Learning Disability

Neha Jain
Research seminar (paper-2)
M.Ed. (2019-20)
Department of Education
University of Delhi
nehajain26113@gmail.com
mentor/guide - Mr. Vinod Kumar Kanvaria
INTRODUCTION
The term Mathematical Thinking is a very broad term which contains many
perspectives and meanings. It can be defined as the mental activity which is
involved in the abstraction and generalization of mathematical ideas. Most
researchers, mathematicians and mathematics educators define mathematical
thinking as a process, which contains at least one of the mental and math-related
activities such as reasoning, abstracting, conjecturing, representing ,and switching
between different representations, visualizing, deducing, inducing, analyzing,
comparing, sorting, organizing, synthesizing, connecting, generalizing, refuting and
proving.
OBJECTIVES

• To explore the development of mathematical thinking skills in

children.
• To identify the problem solving strategies used by children.
Review of related literature
Understanding ‘mathematical learning disabilities’
Mathematical learning disability or developmental dyscalculia is a cognitive disorder impairing the typical
acquisition of mathematical skills. It is a brain based condition which makes it hard to sense numbers and
maths concepts. Children may know what to do in maths class but don’t understand why they are doing it. It is
diagnosed when a child’s mathematical achievement, as measured by individually administered standardized
tests, is substantially below what is expected based on their intelligence and education (American Psychiatric
Association,1994).
In the article,'how children learn mathematics’, A.C Burris(2006) talks about constructivism and conceptually
based mathematics, three level of representation of knowledge and three types of learning experiences.
In this book,Helping children learn mathematics by Robert E. Rey's highlights the five processes standards
highlighted by the principles and standards for school mathematics (NCTM, 2000) which are problem solving,
Reasoning and Proof, Communication, Connections and Representation.
Author says that problem solving, as envisioned by the NCTM standards, is much more the just finding
answers to lists of exercises. Problem solving is a ' major means of developing mathematical knowledge'
(NCTM, 2000, p.116). Author says that problem solving is a way of teaching and learning.
METHODOLOGY
• SAMPLE-For this study, 6 students of class 6th were interviewed who
were already identified by the specialists as having learning
disabilities.
• SAMPLING TECHNIQUE- purposive and convenient sampling
techniques were used for the present study.
• RATIONALE OF THE STUDY-the sample was chosen as per the
accessibility to the researcher. The school chosen was Snehil Public
School Rohini Sector-16 Delhi- 110085.
 A brief profile of each student with learning disability is
presented:
NAME CLASS AGE(years) GENDER NATURE OF DISABILITY

Child A VI 15 female Learning disability Disability in writing and

arithmetic
Child B VI 15 female Learning disabilityDisability in reading,
writing and in basic number processing
Child C VI 16 male Learning disability Disability in writing and
arithmetic
Child D VI 16 male Learning disability Disability in writing and
arithmetic
Child E VI 16 male Learning disability Disability in reading,
writing and arithmetic
Child F VI 16 male Learning disability Disability in writing and
arithmetic
• TOOLS- For this study, interviews and worksheets were taken. The
questions in the interview schedule and worksheet were taken from
NCERT class 6th mathematics books.

• DELIMITATION -
• 1.The study is confined to one school of the N.C.T. of Delhi in which
the data was collected form 6 students with learning disability only.
• 2.The findings cannot be generalized due to less number of
participants in the study.
DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS
• Procedural fluency
• Capability to justify their solutions
• Capability of making connections
• Steps of problem solving
• Use of various computation methods
• Identificatipon of problem solving strategies
• Evaluation of their solutions
• Competency in strategic competence
CONCLUSION

The findings of the present study indicated that children with learning
disabilities have potential to solve problems in order to develop
mathematical thinking process but teachers play an important role in
this. Components of mathematical thinking process such as problem
solving, reasoning, connection, representation and communication was
found in children with learning disabilities. It was found that they used
similar strategies to solve different problems and also used different
strategies for solving the same problem.
References
• Armstrong, T.M.(1982). Learning Disabilities in Mathematics: Skill deficits and remedial approaches at the
intermediate and secondary level. Learning disability quarterly, 5,305-311.
• Beygi, A., Padakannaya, P., & Gowramma, I. (2010). A remedial intervential for addition and subtraction in children
with dyscalculia. Journal of the Indian academy of applied psychology, 36,9-17.
• Bickely, W.G.(1966). Some thoughts on mathematical thinking. The mathematical association, 50(371)1-8
• Dhankar, R.(2008). The Teaching and Learning of Mathematics.
• Dunbar, K.(1998). Problem solving. Blackwell. 289-298
• Geary, D.C. (2004). Mathematics and learning disabilities. Journal of learning disabilities, 37(1), 4-15.
• Mcloed, T.M., & Armstong, S.W. (1982). learning disabilities in Mathematics: skill deficits and remedial approaches
at the intermediate and secondary level. Learning disability quarterly, 5(3),305-311.
• Scusa, T.(2008). Five processes of mathematical thinking.
• Stein, M.K., Grover, B.W., & Henningsen, M. (1996). Building student capacity for mathematical thinking and
reasoning: An analysis of mathematical tasks used in reform classrooms. American educational research journal,
33, 455-488.
THANK YOU