Teach Word Problems as Mysteries.

  To this day, I have issues with word problems but I do try to teach them.  I often save the shortest day of instruction for activities such as math related art, math related music, or learning to solve the more complex word problems.

I've taught them using reading clues such as who, what, where, when, and how.  You know, who did it, what did they do, where did it happen, when did it happen and how was it done.  The last thing was the what do you have to find question.

I've also taught it as KFCW or what do you know, what do you have to find, what do you have to consider or thing about and then the work.  Honestly, the reading way worked a bit better but they still fight me on this topic.  Even many of the performance tasks on the internet are not anymore exciting or real than the ones in the text book.

This is one reason, I want to try teaching word problems as mysteries.  Lets look at the process if you treat word problems as mysteries. 

First, hook them.  Maybe have a mysterious envelope arrive, perhaps delivered by another teacher or the counselor, or the security guy. In the envelope is the problem written down as if it were being told by another person, rather than handing out a paper with the problem.  Or you could have a friend help create a trailer length video which sets it all up.

Second, take time to discuss the possible story behind the problem.  If the problem deals with cans of paint, why would you be ordering cans of paint?  Or if you are traveling across the country, why might you need to keep track of total mileage?   Nothing happens in isolation even though most word problems in the textbook do.

Third, take time to decide what you know from the "crime scene".  What do you have to find.  Sometimes, students have to find one item before they can find the actual information.  CSI technicians always write down every piece of evidence they find.  They draw pictures of the crime scene so students should draw a picture of the scene.

Fourth, have students take time to picture themselves in the situation.  Is there anything they have experience with in their lives they could call upon to solve the problem with?  Do they have prior knowledge that would be applicable?  If there a formula you can think of that might work?  If they can't think of anyone, maybe they could report back to someone to explain the problem, much the same as a detective who explains the crime to their boss.

Fifth, once the problem has been solved, have students ask themselves if this answer is reasonable.  They should also write out an explanation of how they arrived at the answer and check to see that the units are correct.

To help get the students into the right mind set, I purchased One Minute Mysteries: 65 Short Mysteries you solve with math from Amazon because I want to create a bit more interest and enjoyment in solving word problem mysteries.  I'll let you know how it goes in another entry later on.

Let me know what you think. I'd love to hear.