Contextual word problems in mathematics raises students achievement in literacy and  Mathematics !

In my experience as a primary teacher and a facilitator, I have noticed a shift in the importance of providing word problems in real life contexts from just manipulating numbers. Mathematics in our daily lives is not just numbers, but exists in contextual problems.  Research findings on Maths and ELLs suggests that we can improve the literacy and Numeracy of our students by providing word problems to students rather than equations.

This is a challenging task for teachers as students need to comprehend the word problem and then perform the operation(s) to solve the problem. When students are unable to solve problems, we need to dig deeper to understand the issues. Is it due to lack of knowledge and understanding of Maths content or not being able to comprehend the question?

 Either is serious, and both require very different teaching solutions. Teachers must take up the challenge and teach both the content and the language of mathematics, but how well prepared are we to do that?

Historically, Maths skills are explored before their application to Maths problems, however English Language Learners better understand by experiencing the problems first and then developing the solutions. ‘Begin with context – embedded tasks which make the abstract concrete’ is one of our principles of effective teaching and learning for English Language Learners commonly known as ESOL principles and clearly substantiates the fact that it is important to start with a contextual problem rather than numbers and processes.

Here are a few strategies to launch a problem to our English Language Learners:

• ·                  Read the word problem to students
• ·                  Support students to identify and highlight key words
• ·                  Identify relevant information through the process of elimination.
• ·                  Explicit teaching of Maths vocabulary
• ·                  Provide opportunities for students to draw or role play the problem with each other
• ·                  Use appropriate You tube clips to create the scene

·

Dan Meyer’s video clip on ‘Maths class needs a makeover’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhbDVk6mKhg is an inspiration to bring real life in to Maths classrooms through the use technology. One example is taking pictures in real life and encouraging students or teachers to create relevant problems. Students are actively engaged when the problems are based on real life contexts and their interests.

       What other strategies could we use for students to access contextual word problems?