Research
Do you remember word problems as a student? Perhaps you enjoyed the challenge of problem solving. Or perhaps, like many students, you found them frustrating. The two articles discussed on this page provide insight on common student issues with word problems and what teachers can do to support students. Not only will this page update you on research on teaching word problems, but it will show you how to connect these findings to support your child at home. Teaching word problems at home is expanded upon more under the next subpage titled Teaching Word Problems.
Word problems include information that is relevant to the mathematical equation you are to create and information that is not. Part of solving word problems is figuring out what to pay attention to. Barwell (2011) is a university professor of mathematics in Canada; his research focuses on language in mathematics learning. He says that word problems have three parts: scenario, information, and question. Sometimes the scenario is not important to solving the problem. For example, a word problem about a boy selling newspapers could be changed to a boy mowing lawns while keeping the numerical information and the question the same. Students must concentrate on the essential information in relation to the question asked at the end of the word problem. Barwell has studied how students create their own word problems to conclude the most common aspects that students pay attention to. He writes that students pay attention to mathematical structure, genre, and personal experience.
Barwell writes, "Personal experience is used to make the underlying mathematical structure meaningful and to interpret the scenario of the word problem. Understanding the structure of the word problems is necessary to successfully mathematize the scenario. Students are quite able to mathematize situations based on real-world considerations when writing word problems of their own- the challenge is to draw on this ability so that students can respond appropriately to word problems they have not seen before" (p. 3). This leads into one of the implications Barwell suggests for teachers, and you can adapt it for use at home. One suggestion that will also incorporate literacy skills is to have your child create a word problem relating to recent events in his life. Have you recently taken a vacation or trip? Have you gone to the store and made decisions about budgets? Taking a real life event that is meaningful and recent to your child will encourage him to write his own word problem with interest.
An article from The Mathematics Educator, by Eric Bates and Lynda Wiest (2004), also discusses the relationship between student interest/success with word problems and the personalization of the problems. This article covers a study of personalization of word problems in a fourth grade classroom. While their experiment was not conclusive enough to cite effectiveness, they were able to conclude that student interest was increased when personalized problems were used. They discuss previous research that provides more information on this topic. They also cite three reasons for lack of student success with word problems: limited experience with word problems, lack of motivation to solve the problem, and irrelevance of the problems to students' lives (p. 17).
Like the suggestion from Barwell, this article also encourages personalization of word problems, whether the student writes the problem himself or if he modifies an existing problem to fit a relevant scenario. Give the last one a try: when your student has a word problem (perhaps one from his homework or one you create or find), have him modify the problem (except for the numbers and the question it poses) so that the person's name and situation is based on his life and interests. The closing sentence from Bates' and Wiest's article is one I will end this section with for reflection:
"At the very least, personalization [of word problems] could be used as an instructional strategy to break the monotony of word problems containing unknown people, dealing with unfamiliar situations, asking uninspiring questions"(p. 24).
See the next subpage under Word Problems, titled Teaching Word Problems, for more specific tips on working with your child.
Word problems include information that is relevant to the mathematical equation you are to create and information that is not. Part of solving word problems is figuring out what to pay attention to. Barwell (2011) is a university professor of mathematics in Canada; his research focuses on language in mathematics learning. He says that word problems have three parts: scenario, information, and question. Sometimes the scenario is not important to solving the problem. For example, a word problem about a boy selling newspapers could be changed to a boy mowing lawns while keeping the numerical information and the question the same. Students must concentrate on the essential information in relation to the question asked at the end of the word problem. Barwell has studied how students create their own word problems to conclude the most common aspects that students pay attention to. He writes that students pay attention to mathematical structure, genre, and personal experience.
Barwell writes, "Personal experience is used to make the underlying mathematical structure meaningful and to interpret the scenario of the word problem. Understanding the structure of the word problems is necessary to successfully mathematize the scenario. Students are quite able to mathematize situations based on real-world considerations when writing word problems of their own- the challenge is to draw on this ability so that students can respond appropriately to word problems they have not seen before" (p. 3). This leads into one of the implications Barwell suggests for teachers, and you can adapt it for use at home. One suggestion that will also incorporate literacy skills is to have your child create a word problem relating to recent events in his life. Have you recently taken a vacation or trip? Have you gone to the store and made decisions about budgets? Taking a real life event that is meaningful and recent to your child will encourage him to write his own word problem with interest.
An article from The Mathematics Educator, by Eric Bates and Lynda Wiest (2004), also discusses the relationship between student interest/success with word problems and the personalization of the problems. This article covers a study of personalization of word problems in a fourth grade classroom. While their experiment was not conclusive enough to cite effectiveness, they were able to conclude that student interest was increased when personalized problems were used. They discuss previous research that provides more information on this topic. They also cite three reasons for lack of student success with word problems: limited experience with word problems, lack of motivation to solve the problem, and irrelevance of the problems to students' lives (p. 17).
Like the suggestion from Barwell, this article also encourages personalization of word problems, whether the student writes the problem himself or if he modifies an existing problem to fit a relevant scenario. Give the last one a try: when your student has a word problem (perhaps one from his homework or one you create or find), have him modify the problem (except for the numbers and the question it poses) so that the person's name and situation is based on his life and interests. The closing sentence from Bates' and Wiest's article is one I will end this section with for reflection:
"At the very least, personalization [of word problems] could be used as an instructional strategy to break the monotony of word problems containing unknown people, dealing with unfamiliar situations, asking uninspiring questions"(p. 24).
See the next subpage under Word Problems, titled Teaching Word Problems, for more specific tips on working with your child.
References
Barwell, R. (2011). Word problems: connecting language, mathematics, and life. What Works? Research into Practice, pp. 3-4. Retrieved Martch 18, 2013 from <http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/WW_Word_Problems.pdf>.
Bates, E. T., & Wiest, L. R. (2004). Impact of personalization of mathematical word problems on student performance. The Mathematics Educator, vol. 14(2), pp. 17-26. Retrieved March 18, 2013 from <http://math.coe.uga.edu/tme/issues/v14n2/v14n2.Bates.pdf>.
Image link: http://school.familyeducation.com/images/Level4_Sixth_Grade_Math_Student_Doing_Math.jpg
Bates, E. T., & Wiest, L. R. (2004). Impact of personalization of mathematical word problems on student performance. The Mathematics Educator, vol. 14(2), pp. 17-26. Retrieved March 18, 2013 from <http://math.coe.uga.edu/tme/issues/v14n2/v14n2.Bates.pdf>.
Image link: http://school.familyeducation.com/images/Level4_Sixth_Grade_Math_Student_Doing_Math.jpg