Based on the updated Lithuanian Programs of Primary Education, one of the emphasized areas of achievement is problem-solving skills. Problem-solving abilities are an essential part of cognitive domain assessments in international educational research. In such surveys as TIMSS or PISA, part of the tasks requires students to apply mathematical concepts and  thinking to make decisions, and thus justify and argue their answers. Therefore, problem-solving and mathematical thinking are important aspects when evaluating educational success (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000). The transfer of knowledge and the development of skills are part of the learning process, the combination of which is the ability to apply the acquired knowledge and skills in unfamiliar new situations, i.e. problem-solving tasks. 

Reading and problem-solving in mathematics are two of the main skills taught in the early years of early formal education (Durand et al., 2005). Achievement in mathematics depends on the ability to understand and solve complex problems based on inherent logic (Lipnevich et al., 2016). A major source of difficulty in problem-solving is students' inability to actively monitor, control, and regulate their cognitive processes (Artzt et al., 1992).

To understand the problem-solving strategies, used by students and to determine which difficulties are caused by the insufficient level of knowledge and abilities relevant to the subject of mathematics and which are caused by the improper management of the learning process, complementary methods are used in the study. Mathematics learning difficulties are studied by focusing on the process of solving mathematical problems (Rosiyanti et al., 2021; Nurkaeti, 2018), for a deeper analysis the eye tracking method is applied (Stohmair et al., 2020; Schindler et al., 2019). To reveal a more detailed process of problem-solving, the think aloud method is applied (Rosenzweig et al., 2011; Ericsson, 2006).

The problem is expressed in the following questions: what difficulties do the students have in solving the problem; what are the diagnostic possibilities of eye-tracking technology in the process of problem-solving; what problem-solving strategies are used by students without mathematics learning difficulties; can these strategies be developed as a coping mechanism for students with mathematics learning difficulties?

The object of the research is students' problem-solving strategies as a mechanism for overcoming mathematics difficulties.

Hypotheses

1.  When solving problematic tasks, students with a high level of achievement use self-created decision strategies, that are not acquired during the educational process.

2. The eye tracking system determines the cognitive and metacognitive strategies chosen by elementary school students and applied in problem-solving.

The aim is to determine the coping strategies of elementary school students with educational difficulties in learning mathematics.

Piaget's theory of cognitive development will be used in this research. Piaget suggested that children's cognitive development occurs in stages (Papalia & Feldman, 2011). Children themselves are active and motivated to learn, they learn through their own experience, structure, and organized schemes and patterns.

According to Polya, the steps in problem-solving are: understanding the problem, making a plan, executing the plan, and checking the answer (Polya, 1988). Several studies have shown that difficulties in solving mathematics problems can occur at any stage of the action (i.e., planning, doing, and evaluating (Zimmerman, 2000), but most problems occur during the planning and evaluation stages. In this regard, students often show difficulties when planning how to respond to a task, and they are inadequate or lack sufficient strategy concentration to perform all-effort calculations (Garcia et al., 2019).

Metacognitive theory. Metacognitive theories are broadly defined as systematic frameworks used to explain and guide cognition, metacognitive knowledge, and regulatory skills. (Schraw, 1995). Specifically, it refers to the processes used to plan, monitor, and evaluate one's understanding and performance.

A mixed methods research strategy combining quantitative and qualitative methods is used (Creswell, 2014). Research data collection methods: a written survey of students (mathematical diagnostic progress test) and oral survey (partially structured interviews - think-aloud protocols), when students are asked to name their thoughts out loud and perform the task, thus the participant verbally cognitive descriptions and metacognitive research processes, which are recorded by the researcher (by listening, recording and later transcribing) in think-aloud protocols (Ericsson, 2006). The eye-tracking data of the research participants (gaze fixation duration, fixation frequency, fixation time, regions of interest, number of gazes) will be collected while they are performing mathematical problem tasks. (Duchowski, 2017; Mishra, 2018). Data analysis methods: statistical analysis methods will be used for quantitative data, and qualitative content analysis for qualitative data (Ericsson, Simon, 1993).

The research hopes to find out the problem-solving strategies used by students with higher thinking abilities that have not been taught by teachers. An eye-tracking system and think-aloud protocols will be used to collect data. Using the results of these research data, it is hoped to develop a problem-solving mechanism to help students with learning difficulties in mathematics. Using an experimental approach, it is hoped to determine the impact of using this mechanism in teaching mathematics to students with learning difficulties.

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