Storytelling and mathematics don’t naturally go together. The best way to spark a discussion about a math topic in a classroom can be unpopular with many students: solving word problems.
Word problems often either come too late in a lesson or are disconnected from students’ reality. They are cognitively challenging—a student needs to translate the words into a number equation and pick a mathematical operation to solve it. For English learners, students with disabilities, or those who struggle to read, word problems can become an obstacle, instead of a vehicle, to a better understanding of math.
In classrooms with mixed abilities, students reading a word problem out loud in groups can help, said David Dai, an 8th and 9th grade math instructor at the Barton Academy for Advanced World Studies in Mobile, Ala., and a board member of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. In a video interview with Education Week, Dai detailed the strategies he uses to engage students with word problems.
“Students reading aloud allows me to listen and see if they are struggling with certain words,” he said.
In the video above, Dai urged math teachers to leverage technology, especially artificial intelligence, to create word problems that are at grade level and can cater to students who don’t excel at reading. Dai also emphasized that it’s important for teachers to understand their students’ cultural background and use images and contexts that are familiar.
For more research-based strategies on teaching fractions, as well as other math concepts, check out Education Week’s email mini-course, Teaching Math.
