The Problem
Research is needed to establish and verify a classification scheme for the major areas of difficulties individual students have in solving word problems. A classification scheme would enable one to deal routinely with the problem-solving difficulties of both whole classes and individual students. In addition, a classification scheme could serve as a research tool to investigate what areas of solving word problems present greatest difficulty to particular types of students Skills involved in solving word problems can be classified broadly into four different abilities, each of which may be seen either as holistic or as a cluster of skills. These four abilities are (a) the ability to read the problem (b) the ability to set up the problem so that the necessary computation is ready to be performed, (c) the ability to perform the necessary computa- tion, and (d) the ability to integrate reading, interpreting the problem, and computation into the total solution of a word problem. Once solving word