Madelyn Strickland

Incorporating Relevant Word Problems in Math Class

Importance of Word Problems and Teaching How to Solve Them

Why Word Problems Are Necessary in a Classroom

This research article goes on to explain the relevance of word problems throughout history and how they are used in classrooms today. The common consensus about word problems in modern-day math classes is that they need to be revised so they relate to current challenges that people face in our society. Word problems are supposed to be helpful tools that teach students how their math lessons are helpful for their future and how they can utilize this information outside of school. However, if these problems are unrealistic or do not relate to topics that students do not understand, then the word problems themselves have no use and are a waste of the students' time. This article suggests editing the teaching strategies and word problems themselves that are presented in schools so that they better reflect what is being modeled in the professional world of mathematics.

In order to guarantee that math lessons will be relevant and helpful for students' future life - regardless of future career - I will teach word problems and projects that reflect current events so they can use math to learn about their society and how to make a difference. As an educator, I want to be able to teach my students how to help and improve our community since they are the future generation. By teaching them how to calculate factors such as population growths, living wages, and other common topics in society, they can come to their own conclusions about different problems in the world and possible solutions. They may even discover current issues they are passionate about, therefore helping them decide what they want to research in their future.

How to Approach Word Problems

This article from Edutopia was written by two educators with over twenty years of experience. It explains the process of choosing good word problems for students as well as how to teach the students to approach them. This article provides questions for educators to ask themselves about the assignments they plan on giving the students to help the educator decide if the assignment is helpful or not. Some of the given ideas include deciding whether or not the assignment aligns with the learning goals of the unit, how will students be challenged and grow from the assignment, and - most importantly - "Will the task allow students to see the relevance of mathematics to real-world situations?". This article also provides a framework for teachers to present to their students on how to approach and solve these challenging problems. The framework poster provided on the website is shown above titled "Word Problem Framework". This step-by-step diagram is incredibly helpful for students because it teaches them skills on how to solve any problems that may arise in their future, and therefore further guides them on how to improve their community.

Asking myself these open-ended questions will become a regular routine when I am a teacher because it is most important to me that the assignments I give my students are relevant and helpful. Furthermore, I want to act as an aid and support system whenever they have an idea on how they want to improve the world around them. Math makes up everything around us, so I want to be able to provide the proper knowledge they need to achieve their goals. Furthermore, the “Word Problem Framework” teaches important problem-solving skills that everyone should know, so having this diagram in my classroom will be able to help students that may not be interested in specifically utilizing math in order to make a difference. Regardless of which direction my students want to go in with responding to current events they are passionate about, I want to be able to support them in any way that I can.

Examples and Projects for Possible Lesson Plans

Calculus Practice Problems

This website provides a list of possible smaller problems that put Calculus topics into the context of real-world situations. Some examples of these problems include finding the volumes of different objects as well as measuring future profits for businesses and companies. While these goals may not be relevant for everyone’s future careers, these are still useful skills for students to learn. Furthermore, it is always helpful for students to understand why they are learning certain formulas and systems of equations. Putting math lessons into real-world context allows students to understand why they are being taught these lessons and their uses.

Because these problems are smaller and should not be incredibly time consuming for students, problems like these would fit best on tests, homework assignments, or in-class group assignments. Especially because this website includes detailed solutions on how to solve each of these problems, it is a great resource for my students to study from. I would first encourage them to approach these problems on their own or in small groups, and if they are still struggling, I would recommend they look at the detailed description of how to solve the problems themselves. If it is still challenging for them, I would then ask them to come to me so I can provide further assistance.

Post-Graduation Plans

This project description provides different hypothetical post-graduation situations about financial plans and careers. The lesson plan is incredibly detailed by being transparent about the learning goals and objectives this project is supposed to accomplish, as well as detailed directions for the students to understand. Furthermore, the project outlines the chapters from class that it connects to so students can understand the relevance of their past math lessons.

I really like this project because the topic it covers - post graduation plans and salaries - is a topic that high school students should be thinking about anyway. It can be incredibly overwhelming for students to think about their future and conceptualize the cost of living. However, with this assignment, they can better understand how each career can provide differently and gain a better understanding of the cost of living. The author of this project also made a point to mention that the most talked about step after high school is college, but for many students, this step is not realistic or not even what they want. This project studies multiple different post-graduation plans for high schoolers to learn about, such as joining the workforce, community college, or a four-year college. Students can review their math lessons while learning about which post-graduation plan might best benefit them.

Population Growth Rates

This YouTube video from The Organic Chemistry Tutor goes through the steps on how to calculate the population growth rate of a rabbit population. The video begins with him explaining the strategies that will be used to solve this problem, and then he goes on to connect these strategies to the population growth example. By drawing out each step on the video and explaining in detail how to approach each aspect of the problem, students can visualize the math steps and hear the theory behind why each lesson on exponential growth in class was so important.

Although this example describes the population growth of a rabbit population instead of human population growth - which might be more relevant - , I would still want to teach how to solve this problem in one of my lessons since overpopulation growth is a major environmental and societal issue right now. There are many mathematicians who study this idea and come up with solutions to the overpopulation issue. By teaching this kind of idea to my students and introducing them to the current issue of overpopulation, I might be able to inspire students who want to research this idea in more detail in order to help our future generations.

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