January 2012 Volume 15 Number 1 - Educational Technology ...

questions designed for the system helped them identify the key points of the math questions. Over 94.1% of the
participants indicated that the expression- and calculation-guiding motion pictures furnished by the system helped
them make out the right problem-solving direction and complete the calculation. Over 82.4% of the participants
said the double-check stage of the system helped them verify the expressions and calculations. A great number of
the participants (94.1%) agreed that the method provided by the computer inspired them to think that there may
have been better problem-solving approaches.
Preference of each stage of the problem-solving process (questions 16~19)
Table 7 shows about half of the users (47.1%) felt all the stages were very simple; 17.6% of the users considered
all word-based questions to have been very difficult. About a quarter of the users (23.5%) regard expression
listing and calculation as the easiest, whereas 5.9% each consider the question understanding step and the double
check step the easiest, respectively. When asked again which step was most difficult, 5.9% of the users still said
all the steps were very difficult, whereas 17.6% each consider the expression listing and calculation step and the
double check step the hardest, respectively. Meanwhile, 11.8% see the question understanding step most
challenging. Comparison of the favorite steps reveals that 41.2% of the users prefer the double check step, and
29.4% enjoy the expression listing and calculation step the most. Therefore, we can see users acquire the greatest
sense of achievement from successful completion of a question. The result revealed that 5.9% of the users enjoy
all 3 steps very much and 23.5% indicated their favorite part is the question understanding stage.
Conclusion
The ability to solve basic word-based addition and subtraction questions is the foundation for developing the
ability to tackle complicated questions. Taiwanese students who experienced mathematical learning difficulties
became more and more frustrated when they reached the middle grades because the difficulty and range of
mathematical courses intensified and expanded. Hwang, Chen, Dung and Yang (2007) also recommended that
teachers design problem solving activities to improve students’ mathematical representation skills. The main
purpose of this study, therefore, was to develop an Internet-based computer-assisted mathematics learning system
to help low-achieving elementary students improve their ability to solve basic word-based addition and
subtraction questions and enhances their willingness to continue the learning. Outcomes indicated that the
computer-assisted mathematical learning system developed for this study can serve as a supplementary tool that
helps teachers with remedial instruction and enhances the problem-solving ability of low achievers.
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