Math problem-solving is an essential talent. Someday, your kids will need to know how to calculate the remaining mileage on a road trip, how much time is needed to finish a bathroom, how much food to buy for a party, how to double a recipe, how much an item on sale costs, and so on. However, because there is no single right way to solve a math problem, it is crucial that you provide your pupils with practice in a variety of approaches. Once you’ve shown your students multiple exit strategies, they can pick the one that best suits them.
If you’re having trouble getting your students interested in solving math problems, here are creative activities to try:
Use manipulatives
Students need something tangible they can feel and touch while first learning to answer the math questions. The best tool for math homework help is mathematical manipulatives. Encourage your students to make visual representations of math problems using a variety of tools, including counters, cubes, blocks, coins, and even small erasers. If your students need to add two and four, they can create a pile of twos and a pile of fours. Then they can tally up their total and see how many they have. This approach is also useful for subtracting.
Draw a picture
For a better grasp of a concept, a visual aid might be invaluable. This is especially accurate while working on mathematical word problems. Have your kids draw a solution to a word problem after reading it. Students can visualize the problem by drawing two shelves with books on them, and then counting how many books are on each shelf. If your children have spent some of their allowances and are attempting to figure out how much they still have, they can simply sketch the initial number and cross out the amount they spent. And then they can take stock of what’s left. To calculate the area or perimeter of a form or to divide a set of objects into equal halves, pupils can benefit from drawing a picture.
Act it out
Have your kids perform a role-play of the problem rather than just thinking about how to solve it. Consider a scenario in which you have three students and 12 pieces of candy. Give each group of three students 12 pieces of candy and tell them to share. Give your pupils a ribbon and five presents, and have them figure out how much ribbon they’ll need to wrap them all. Provide pupils with supermarket ads so they can figure out how much money they’ll need to make dinner. Your class will have a great time while learning and will retain the knowledge of how to solve these types of difficulties in the future.
Write a word problem
Why not have your kids create their own word problems as an alternative to writing them all yourself? It’s a fun approach to try something different in arithmetic, and it’ll help you have a firmer grasp on the fundamentals of solving word problems. Older students can come up with their own problems on their own, while younger pupils can practice writing problems by filling in the gaps on word problem templates. After everyone has written down their problems, they can switch worksheets and work together to find solutions.
Let the Students Be the Teachers
Instead of always being the one to stand in front of the class and demonstrate how to do math word problems, let the students take the lead. When kids teach someone else something they’ve learned, they’re more likely to retain the information themselves. Encourage students to take turns displaying the method of solving a word problem that clicks most intuitively with them.
Go online
The opportunity to mess around on a computer or iPad is greatly appreciated by kids. Take advantage of this and have your kids do some online word problems. Word problem documents can be made by the teacher, and students can use the drawing tools to solve the problems, or the teacher can use pre-made word problem activities. While Education.com is a great resource for this kind of thing, there are many more educational websites that can help your pupils improve their word problem-solving skills as well.
Teachers’ beliefs and knowledge about mathematics and the nature of mathematics education have a significant impact on how they structure lessons for their students. Successful educators know that students’ problem-solving skills grow with experience and training. However, it can be challenging to get the entire class excited about solving math word problems, but with these strategies, you might succeed. It will make you happy to see children gain confidence in their math skills and performance on assessments while doing something they enjoy!
Bio:
Evelyn Montoy is a well-known author and she always adores natural things. Evelyn studied linguistics and practice botany in her leisure time. Her passion for flowers and other things is evident in many of her articles.
Published by HOLR Magazine.