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Making Sense of Problems

META
Mathematics›Mathematical Thinking|Ages 5—6|ID: mt_WkKkb7W9Qd

Make sense of a problem by identifying what is being asked, choosing concrete objects or pictures to represent the situation, and explaining a pathway to the solution

Mastery Evidence

  • When given a word problem within 10, explain what the problem is asking before attempting to solve
  • Choose objects, fingers, or drawings to represent a problem situation
  • After finding an answer, check it makes sense (e.g. re-count objects to verify a total)

Assessment Prompt

“When [child] gets a maths problem they don't immediately know how to solve, do they stop and think about what the question is asking — maybe drawing a picture — before diving in?”

Prerequisites5

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  • Checking Your Own Work soft

    Checking whether a maths answer makes sense applies the universal self-checking habit to a mathematical context

  • How Many in Total? soft

    Problem sense-making at 5-6 requires cardinality understanding to make sense of 'how many' problems

    • One-to-one counting hard

      Cardinality principle builds on one-to-one correspondence — you must count correctly to know the last number tells 'how many'

  • Listening to Texts Read Aloud soft

    Making sense of word problems requires listening comprehension skills

  • Addition as combining or putting together two soft

    Making sense of addition problems requires understanding addition as combining

    • How Many in Total? hard

      Understanding addition as combining groups requires knowing numbers represent quantities (cardinality)

      • One-to-one counting hard

        Cardinality principle builds on one-to-one correspondence — you must count correctly to know the last number tells 'how many'

  • Persisting When It's Hard soft

    Mathematical perseverance with problems is the domain-specific application of the universal persistence habit

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