Impact of working memory on arithmetic problem solving in primary school pupils with mathematical learning difficulties

Abstract

Learning arithmetic operations is fundamental for social and professional emancipation, where counting and solving numerical operations is part of everyday behavior; this reflects the more or less serious difficulties that pupils with mathematics learning difficulties (MLD) may encounter. The interest of this work is to underline the importance of the cognitive deficit at the memory level in these subjects. In this sense we selected 30 pupils aged 7 to 8 years old, educated from 2nd to3rd year of the primary cycle with MLD on whom we applied tests of arithmetic problem solving and working memory (WM). Analysis of the results indicates a significant correlation between the difficulties recorded in arithmetic and WM. These results lead us to a systematic evaluation of WM in subjects with MLD, in any therapeutic diagnostic approach.