Mathematics and Society - OS X Lion Server

DIDACTICSTEACHING VIA PROBLEM SOLVINGpresentation rather than only a wordpresentation.Trueblood [1969] recommends,and some text series occasionallyuse, a nonverbal or minimally-verbalpresentation for some problems (asshown to the right in part of PictureProblems 1 from the Addition and Subtractionsubsection of WHOLE NUMBERSNumber Sense and Arithmetic Skills,Mathematics Resource Project).Keil[1965] produced superior performanceon standardized tests by having sixthgraderswrite and solve word problemsabout a given situation instead ofusing the textbook problems(see number5 on page 16).inHow many feet of string?On a 3-day trip,e smJesman drove243 the first day, 319 the seconddaY,and 186 the third day. How fartotal:To by-pass the reading problem of some students, some teachers present wordproblems orally. McGill and Wiles [1975], however, found that for at least some (fifth-grade students, a more important thing is the vocabulary level.Whether problemswith a high level of vocabulary were or were not read ~louddid not make a difference,whereas having problems with a low level of vocabulary read orally (withthe printed statement available) did give a better performance than having only theprinted statement available.Finally, frequent exposure to word problems, combined with some success, shouldbuild confidence.Some easy problems could be given along with more difficult ones.Having at least one word problem a day may be more fruitful thaI! a biweekly or onechapterordeal.SUMMARY• To seek problem materials and presentations that students will find interesting,we might ••---poll the students and eavesdrop on them,--ask them to submit problems,--get them to guess answers and thus commit themselves,--act out selected problem situations, and--use students' names and student situations in problems.(34