ABSTRACT
Several studies (Carpenter & Moser, 1982; Ishida, 1987; Ishida & Koyasu, 1988; Tomioka, 1961) have shown that the semantic structure of word problems is an important factor affecting children’s performance on word problems. Problems in the joining/separating class have an initial quantity and some direct or implied action that causes a change in the quantity. Problems in the combine class represent a static relationship involving two distinct quantities that are parts of a whole. Problems in the comparison class involve the comparison of two disjoint quantities. These problems differ in the semantic structure used to describe the problem situation.
