I have not written a blog for a long time, I apologise. Here is a short post about one of my favourite podcasts.
One of my favourite podcasters is Christina Tondevold of Build Maths Minds.
In her most recent post (12th December 2021) Christina talks about a particular style of problem
The students are asked to write four stories for a given problem. Each story is framed so that there is a different solution.
It took me a while to work out what was going on but as the podcast progressed and possible stories were given, I realised just how clever this problem style is. I began to think about how such problems could be presented to students and how manipulatives could be used.
Students are often reluctant to write in maths in class. Asking them to write stories, making maths more about communication and less about numbers, is a great way to encourage writing. These problems also make students think deeply about the meaning of an answer. Writing these stories will engage and challenge even the ablest students and reveal misconceptions.
Thinking about how I would introduce this to a class I might start with a number talk, asking the students to tell a story, and then ask the students to write them down. The stories, with accompanying illustrations and calculations, would make a great wall display.
The podcast was only part one and I am looking forward to part two to see where this will go.