Teaching inferences: Facilitating mathematical word problem solving through reading intervention

A teaching approach about how to make inferences was developed and tested to study its effects on students' word problem-solving skills and reading comprehension. To achieve our objective, a quasi-experimental design, with both control and experimental groups, was chosen. A total of 253 fourth graders (9-10 years old) from six different schools in the province of Quebec were involved in the project. Data showed that after the intervention the experimental group improved its performance in word problem-solving more than the control group. The results suggest that teaching inferences in a specific way can help students develop their word problem-solving skills and reading comprehension skills.