Today I worked with a student on a word problem. He is an ELL student who is reading at maybe a kindergarten level. He does not understand 95% of the words in the problem. The problem asked how many cookies and cupcakes did Henry's mom buy?
She went to the store and bought 2 six packs of soda. Then she bought 15 cupcakes and 3 dozen cookies. She also bought 24 napkins.
They added extra information that confused him even more. The first thing I watched him do was take every number he saw in the problem and add them. This is a problem because the 2 six packs are actually 12 sodas and the 3 dozen are actually 36 cookies. He had no idea what six pack or dozen meant. I showed R what a dozen was with blocks. He understood that 12 were in a dozen. I knew this because I told them she bought 3 of those dozens so how many did she buy. He right away counted out 12 more blocks and put them aside and then counted 12 more. He did not understand altogether. He did understand total. I tried to explain to him altogether by pushing all of the pieces into one group. Once he figured out how many 3 dozen were he used the counting method and counted the 15 cupcakes starting at 36 cookies. So I believe I witnessed him use the direct method while trying to figure out the 3 dozen cookies, and the counting when he was trying to find the total. This whole process was a struggle in the beginning because he doesn't even understand what the problem says or is asking.
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Everything in the problem seems to hinge around what dozen means, since he knows she bought 15 cupcakes. If it said she worked for 3 fortnights or she bought 3 score cupcakes, all of his classmates would probably have the same problem. In my experience, teachers might say "Oh R! I've taught you this so many times. We all know what a dozen is." but it probably has never clicked for him. He doesn't have to be an ELL to have this problem.
ReplyDeleteYes, here we have a case of... what are we trying to assess here? Is it addition, dealing with extra information, or vocabulary? Yes, there's a place for this type of problem, but is it necessarily appropriate for this particular child?
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