Abstract
This presentation describes research to address a key problem confronting Mathematics teachers: a reluctance in students to solve story problems. A group of College Algebra students were given a collection of story problems as actual short "stories" minus any Mathematical notation or data (an exponential function problem on cooling is written as "Guests are coming at 6 pm. When should I start chilling the wine?"). Next, the actual problem is presented with guided steps. The student gets to know the purpose of the problem before doing the calculations. Student surveys and work were used to measure the effect of this approach on the enthusiasm and problem solving ability of students, as well as finding out the most and least appealing word problems . The attendees will be given a chance to see a collection of "algebra stories" (some quite unusual) through the eyes of a student.
Location
Room 2904
Recommended Citation
Premadasa, Kirthi, "A Story Time for Math" (2010). SoTL Commons Conference. 96.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/sotlcommons/SoTL/2010/96
A Story Time for Math
Room 2904
This presentation describes research to address a key problem confronting Mathematics teachers: a reluctance in students to solve story problems. A group of College Algebra students were given a collection of story problems as actual short "stories" minus any Mathematical notation or data (an exponential function problem on cooling is written as "Guests are coming at 6 pm. When should I start chilling the wine?"). Next, the actual problem is presented with guided steps. The student gets to know the purpose of the problem before doing the calculations. Student surveys and work were used to measure the effect of this approach on the enthusiasm and problem solving ability of students, as well as finding out the most and least appealing word problems . The attendees will be given a chance to see a collection of "algebra stories" (some quite unusual) through the eyes of a student.
