The text presents in historical perspective the theoretical frameworks and the main results in this domain of solving word problems in mathematics education that the author acquired during the period 1987-2003. The text deals with four major domains: Comparative analysis of solving strategies; Method of atomic analysis; From atomic analysis to analysis of solving strategies of word problems; From analysis of behaviours to analysis of situations. Each part includes a synthetic summary of the respective hypotheses, conditions of observations and results of the research supplemented either by bibliographic references or a respective document in the Appendices with more detailed information. What is important in this section are the results which were reached and questions that they led to; this will allow illustration and explanation of evolution and development of new frameworks and new perspectives.