The context within word problems helps to support mathematical thinking. Many teachers may shy away from problem solving, seeing it as more complex than a “numbers only” problem. However, students do not need to master the skill of computation in order to solve problems. In fact, the context used in problem solving can often help students make sense of the numbers, making the students more successful.

When introducing a word problem, don’t be tempted to model a similar problem first and then give students a problem that simply contains different numbers. This results in stealing the students’ struggle and takes away the opportunity for thinking and reasoning. Moreover, students should be encouraged to solve problems using whatever strategy or technique that they wish.

It is also important to note that teachers should not teach “key words” to students as a system of support for students. Students are often told that words like “altogether” and “in all” are supposed to signal to students that they are to add, while words like “how many more” mean they are to subtract. However, key words can lead students to choose the wrong operation. Teaching key words takes away the thinking and sends the message that there is no reasoning necessary—that math is just about numbers and is not even a part of our real life. What is most important is their reasoning and why they chose to solve it in the way they did. The strategies used by students provide teachers with a great deal of information about where a student is and where to go next with him or her.