Rationale
Demographics
I teach fourth grade at George Washington Carver Elementary School. It has recently become fully accredited, which means that our students have met state standards for academic success in the past several years. Our school is one of very few accredited schools within our district. Nearly 500 students populate our elementary school. Of the students that attend, 100% of them receive free or reduced priced lunches. There is very little diversity within the student makeup. Approximately 95% of students are African-American and fewer than 5% can be described as white or ‘other’, according to Richmond Public Schools.4 Our school is referred to as a Title One School, which means that we receive federal funding in the hope that this money will help students meet state and national standards for education each year.
The school is situated in the heart of Richmond, Virginia, and resides within the historic Jackson Ward neighborhood. It is adjacent to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Science Museum of Virginia. Even with all of the history and opportunity for exploration that surrounds the school, students have not had many experiences outside of their neighborhood and classrooms. Because of this lack of experience, it can sometimes be difficult for students to bring context to our classroom work. Solving word problems can be particularly challenging for my students because the situations depicted in many word problems are unfamiliar to them. They are often unfamiliar with the vocabulary that appears in problems, unrelated to mathematics, as well. A lack of context, limited reading comprehension, and poor understanding of problem solving in general can often lead my students to rely heavily on guessing and looking for “key words” when attempting to solve word problems. The most worrisome issue I encounter in my classroom is the tendency of students to not see themselves as problem solvers. They have not yet developed strong reasoning skills and do not approach problems in a logical way. More often than not, students have been taught since Kindergarten to approach word problems by looking for the ‘key words’ within the problem. When this approach is unhelpful in satisfying the problem, students become frustrated and begin to form a negative opinion of mathematics. Many are able to solve purely numerical problems.
Example: 800 - 299 = ___
In this form, it is a relatively uncomplicated problem for students. However, when the same problem is expressed in word form, it is much more difficult for students. A good example of this is when the same problem is written as follows:
Syasia has set a goal to read 800 pages this month. If she has already read 299 pages, how many more will she need to read in order to meet her goal?
What I most often see students do is highlight the word “more” in a problem such as this and assume that they need to perform an addition operation. They will then proceed to string any number they can find in the problem, together and add, producing: 800 + 299 = 1,099.
Not only have they performed an incorrect computation: adding when they should have subtracted, but they have ended up with a number larger than the original goal of 800. Occasionally, students will realize their mistake by checking the reasonability of their answer. More often, students will see the incorrect computation as a choice on a standardized test and select it, validating their reliance on ‘key words’. They have not even realized they have selected an inappropriate choice.
Being able to solve word problems with a balanced approach is crucial for students in fourth grade. Not only are students expected to reason with whole numbers in written problems but are also expected to add and subtract fractions and decimals in the same way. Knowing that my students are in need of improving their problem-solving skills has inspired me to write a unit that will encourage and show students how to discuss math problems, specifically word problems, throughout fourth grade and beyond. It is my hope that by the end of this unit students will have a better relationship with mathematics and will begin to reason through problems on their own.
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