Any parent of school going children (and reasonably involved in their studies!) will understand the dread of most children at the mention of ‘word problems’ in Math. This dread is one of the significant factors that turn Math exams into battlezones, Olympiads into Mission(s) Impossible and Math subject itself as the heart of enemy territory. And guess what – it’s quite a surprise that a number of such kids do fine when it comes to actual mathematical formulae and calculations. Where then, is the problem and what can be done about it?
Why word/story problems? Are they relevant?
Crudely, a word problem is often where daily life meets mathematical concepts and is hence, very relevant to children. Like, how much more cake should we buy if Peter’s family joins the party? By which year would your mom be double your age? Story problems cover a wide gamut of things that are of interest to children (for example, from rolling dice and playing cards to birthday cake and travel planning to understanding age differences of people to estimating money based context etc.) and hence, easy to relate to in plain English and for lay people. In fact, they are among the vital elements of pedagogy that are recommended to get students to develop interest in Math and realize its relevance to their lives. Hence, it’s quite counter intuitive to observe they are themselves problems for children!
If they’re easy to relate to, why are children troubled?
Children who get troubled by Word math are those who are (often) not clear enough and confident enough on what the Math concepts truly mean. This may be true even when they have ‘practiced enough’ (orally or in writing) to gain speed and demonstrate competence (even in exams!). They’re experts in solving ‘pure’ math or formula based problems that align to the teacher’s format or template (across various topics). However, word problems require more comprehensive processing – in addition to understanding of English (or any other) language, students need to ‘get to the core’ of the situation by cutting through the text and identify ‘the essence’ of the problem and the mathematical concept to be utilized.
This is much more unstructured than formula based or ‘pure math’ based testing and requires clarity of mind and more refined problem solving – something traditional straight jacketed teaching methods do not directly involve. What’s more, ‘getting to the core’ or identifying ‘the essence’ of story problems can be made trickier with more complicated language or counter intuitive problem contexts (to typical real life observations) or unnecessary information. The result is – children sense a higher involvement of their brains for such problems and if they are not trained enough or ready, try to escape from them!
What can be done to get children to overcome word problems?
Getting children to think through day-to-day activities more logically is a good place to start! Children can be consciously made to follow the approach of logically structuring things or systematically thinking through factors. Their mental faculties are then at a better readiness level to structure the group of words thrown at them via the story problem, ignore irrelevant words and then see the problem’s essence quickly. As with anything to do with learning, practice according to a well thought out plan and analytical framework can do wonders to children.
Can technology or unique methodologies help children?
Thanks to the combination of technology and expertise in math pedagogy, children can benefit from well thought out customized learning plans for math learning. There are specialized subjects that promote thinking logically while handling unstructured problems – when designed and delivered by the right experts, they can help the child effectively and efficiently develop his/her competence in related subjects. Word Math problems then can become ‘play areas’ to children, a sharp shift from the ‘problem areas’ they used to be!
