Representational and Calculational Skills of Grade Six Students

Abstract

This study aimed at examining grade six students’ level of performance on solution and representation problems, gender differences, and comparing performances on the two types of problems. The sample of the study consisted of 416 male and female sixth graders from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. A 20-item test was used in this study. Half of the items were solution items and the other half were representation items. The test was divided into two parts such as no two corresponding representation and solution items were included in the same part. Results revealed that students’ performance on solution items varied according to item difficulty. On representation items, performance was notably low. No gender differences in performance were found. Students’ performance on solution items was better than that on representation items in eight cases out of ten.