Study shows addressing working memory can help students with math difficulty improve word problem-solving skills

Working memory is a limited amount of information humans can store while processing other information and executing other tasks. It plays a central role when students attempt to solve math word problems. For the study, researchers worked with 207 third grade students with and without math difficulties to see how working memory influenced their abilities to solve word problems.

"In problem-solving, working memory serves as the mental chalkboard where we temporarily hold and manipulate the information needed to find a solution," said Michael Orosco, associate professor of educational psychology in KU's School of Education & Human Sciences and one of the study's authors. "We are investigating whether working memory serves as a mediator and moderator in mathematical problem-solving outcomes, comparable to its role in other cognitive processes."

Students in the sample were randomly assigned to four treatment conditions in which they used different approaches to solving word problems:

• A verbal emphasis strategy that taught students to underline questions, circle numbers or cross out irrelevant information;
• A visual emphasis strategy that taught students to use diagrams representing part-whole relationships and quantity comparisons;
• A verbal and visual strategy, which combined elements of the first two;
• A materials-only strategy, which used the same materials but without overt motor activities such as underlining or diagramming.

Students took part in an eight-week intervention using the assigned conditions and were tested before and after on their working memory and word problem-solving ability. Results showed that working memory predicted post-test problem solving ability and that the strategies reduced strain on working memory as they gained experience.

"We found that by using these conditions, you could improve the students' word problem-solving by improving working memory," Orosco said. "They helped reduce cognitive load, or basically free up space in the working memory to learn more information while working to solve problems."

The study, co-written with H. Lee Swanson of the University of California-Riverside and Deborah Reed of the University of Tennessee, was published in the journal Child Neuropsychology.

Results from post-tests also confirmed the importance of working memory. Students with higher working memory consistently also had higher scores in word problem-solving. Strategies that included overt cues such as underlining key information or crossing out irrelevant sentences decreased demands on working memory and those that progressively increased complexity of problems improved working memory in students with math difficulty. However, despite the benefits of the interventions, students without math difficulty consistently outperformed those with math difficulty.

Future research could further explore executive functions such as working memory in word problem-solving and the role artificial intelligence could play in understanding the functions as well as developing interventions, said Orosco, who leads a graduate certificate program in mind, brain and education at KU.

Orosco said the study both adds to the literature on the importance of working memory and builds on the growing body of knowledge in the science of math. In both cases, the research can help improve instruction for both students who do and do not struggle with math. There will always be students who do not respond to general instruction, and giving teachers better tools to help them is showing to have benefits for all students, he added.

"If there is one area our teachers often don't initially get, it's educational neuroscience, because they just don't get training in it," Orosco said. "These are difficult experimental studies to do, but we find when you take the time to talk with teachers, they get it and understand the benefits. Understanding working memory as an executive function and reducing cognitive load for students who often struggle with math is helping advance the science of math for our teachers."