Alice Ball Literature Review Word Problems

Alice Ball Literature Review

February, 19, 2013

Title: Wonderful Word Problems: Teaching Kids to Write Their Own Story Problem

Author: Rachel McAnallen

Source: http://www.zoidandcompany.com/withoutworksheets_files%237WordProblems.pdf

Summary: Word problems are difficult for many students to understand. Because of this Ms. Math, Rachel McAnallen examined specific problems in math textbooks. She realized that the problems did not make sense to children because they were not written through a child’s eyes. Rachel came up with a lesson to teach children how to write their own story problems using things they can relate to. Ms. McAnallen originally taught this lesson using pictures from magazines that students would cut out according to their interests but then had to change it once she began travelling around the country to present her lessons.

This lesson is for Grades 3 and up (It probably could be adapted to younger grades if needed). It will take at least 3 days to teach. The order to teach this concept is:

1.      Reality Check—The teacher is supposed to tell a little about his or her life and relate to the students’ lives.

2.      Ask a Simple Question—Allow students to ask simple (not personal) questions to the teacher. Show a story problem that the teacher has put together from his or her reality and have students ask questions that the story problem can answer.

3.      Math Homework: Story Time!—The students are assigned to go home that night and write a stories about their realities, write questions from their stories, and  write the answers to question on a separate sheet of paper. (No math involved yet.)

4.      The KISS Method (Keep It Simple Sweetie)—1. Partnerships read each other’s stories and answer questions.2. The teacher takes the original reality story and adds numbers to different part it. 3. The class is told to formulate questions to ask that the story problem can answer. 4. The students are assigned, for homework to add numbers to their stories and ask math questions. The students are required to have at least 5 math questions and work out the solutions to all the questions which are due the next day. 5. The next day partners exchange stories and work to solve each other’s problems.

5.      Story Problem Secret Revealed!—Explain to the students that sometimes when writing story problems, people put in useless information to see if you can be tricked. Students are then told to revise their story problems to put in “trick” information.

Analysis:                                                                                                                                                                                 Ms. McAnallen stated, “This is absolutely the hardest lesson in the world to teach….But if you want something that is going to stick with the kids, then go for it.” This is going to be something that I will definitely try next year with my students before I teach the unit on problem solving. I will also adapt this to the class I have this year to review with the students how to make their own story problems, which I hope in return, the students will be able to understand story problems better for end of level testing and throughout their lives.