The effects of graphic organizers on solving linear equations and inequalities

摘要

This study examined the use of graphic organizers in secondary mathematics classrooms to solve high-level mathematics problems. A Non-Equivalent Groups Design (NEGD) was used to investigate the effectiveness of using a graphic organizer to guide students with disabilities and students at risk for failure in mathematics to solve linear equations and inequalities. Students in three inclusion classrooms at a high school in an urban school district participated in direct strategy instruction in a quasi-experimental intervention comparing two different graphic organizers. Effect was documented through repeated measures of a test of linear equations and inequalities and a social validity scale. Results indicate the intervention was effective across all groups. Those students with disabilities who were instructed with the graphic organizer associated with the lowest cognitive demand saw the greatest relative percent of change from pretest to posttest conditions as compared to students with disabilities in other each of the other two study conditions.