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> Many students are only taught math as symbol manipulation. Less instruction is focused on identifying situations where it might be useful. We need to give stu
by voldacar 5y ago
> Many students are only taught math as symbol manipulation. Less instruction is focused on identifying situations where it might be useful. We need to give students more training in noticing and converting everyday situations into the math problems they know how to solve.
No, please don't do this. When I was learning math as a kid I found word problems incredibly irritating and stupid. It's just a way to waste a few seconds of my time when I just want to solve the problem and get to the next one. Word problems are just disrespectful
- pfranz 5y agoI think the reason most word problems suck is that they're manufactured abstractions on the same problems elsewhere on the worksheet--which seems to be your critique. In real life, a lot of those situations are hidden, but there are often multiple correct ways to approach the problem and hopefully some intuition will help you if you're too far off track. 2/3rds of 3/4ths of a cup of cottage cheese shouldn't be more than one cup and shouldn't be a tiny amount, either. (I also don't see a problem with people who scooped it onto the table). Similarly to the woodworker (elsewhere in this thread) trying to evenly measure out where 3 legs on a stool would go.