Service learning math problem solving project transforms students’ math participation
Yan Ping Xin working with local elementary students on math word problems (Photo provided)
Remember math word problems – who had trouble understanding and solving those?
College of Education faculty/students impacted local students during the past two spring semesters through implementing an evidence-based intervention program, “Conceptual Model-based Problem Solving (COMPS) computer tutor: A tool to support at-risk elementary students’ learning of mathematics,” to engage elementary students in learning and doing mathematics.
While implementing the COMPS computer tutor at local schools, the project team also helped students to create their own math problems, which dramatically changed the dynamics of learning and exponentially increased their engagement level.
During the spring of 2024, Yan Ping Xin and her research team of education doctoral students worked with 14 students with learning disabilities/difficulties in mathematics (LDM) at Klondike Elementary School in West Lafayette, IN.
“As part of a service-learning project, while we were providing instructional support to help Klondike Elementary School students learn mathematics, we tried out structured problem posing to engage elementary students with LDM,” said Xin, a professor of special education in the Department of Educational Studies.
In the spring of 2025, Xin and her research team carried out an intervention program and worked with six students with LDM at Burnett Creek Elementary School. They worked with the elementary students for two 30-minute sessions every school day in April and May 2024 and one 45-min session every school day in April and May 2025.
The team conducted repeated measures to monitor students’ progress. The low-level group improved their performance from an average of 22% correct to an average of 100% correct on the criterion test. The high-level group improved their performance from an average of 60% correct to 100% correct after the instruction.
In the 2024 Service-Learning Fellow project, Purdue Special Education PhD students involved were Samiratu Bashiru, Patricia El Horr de Moraes, Sedigheh Fatollahzadeh Dizaji, Busra Yilmaz Yenioglu, and Jingyuan Zhang; along with Xiaowen Zhang, a Purdue Curriculum and Instruction graduate student.
In the 2025 College of Education small research project, Purdue Special Education PhD students involved were Yichen Wang, Busra Yilmaz Yenioglu, and Lejia Yu. Dr. Hannah Yanhua Zong, assistant professor of practice in Purdue Polytechnic’s School of Applied and Creative Computing, provided technical support to the computer tutor program used in the project and gave instructional support at the school site.
The COMPS-Computer tutor used in the spring 2025 intervention program was designed and created through funding support from the National Science Foundation (Xin, Kastberg, & Chen, 2015-2020).
The service learning (spring semester 2024) and the intervention project (spring semester 2025) were supported by the Office of the Provost’s Experiential Education Fellows Program (formerly the Service-Learning Fellow Program) and College of Education small research grants.
In addition to providing overall leadership and management to the project and developing instructional and assessment materials, Xin delivered the intervention program and conducted the assessment throughout the project at the school site.
“One of the critical impacts of the project was that engaging students in problem posing activities utterly changed the dynamics of the learning process – transforming students from disengagement or passive engagement to active and joyful participation – a sharp contrast between the two!” Xin said.
In September, Xin plans to reward the participating students with some special books from their wish list to mark their accomplishment.
About the Experiential Education Fellows Program
The Experiential Education Fellows Program (formerly the Service-Learning Fellows Program) has now been expanded to include both community and industry partners, fostering collaborative work that bridges academic and practical applications.
Source: Yan Ping Xin