Four Stages: Math Problem Solving

MATH
FOUR STAGES
PROBLEM
SOLVING
SOLUTION
EXECUTION
PROBLEM
TRANSLATION Calculations
Fast & Accurate
Basic Facts Presented
Math Knowledge
SOLUTION PLANNING
PROBLEM
& MONITORING
INTEGRATION
Break into Subgoals
Recognize Problem Type
Step by Step Plan
Build Coherent Representation
Where am I in my plan?
SAMPLE PROBLEM
Floor tiles are sold in squares 30 cm on each side.

How much would it cost to tile a rectangular room 7.2
meters long and 5.4 meters wide if the tile cost $ .72 each?
ONE POSSIBLE SOLUTION PLAN
Step 1: change width & length into number of tiles

540/30 = 18 tiles 720/30 = 24 tiles
Step 2: determine how many square tiles cover the floor
18 times 24 = 432 tiles
Step 3: determine the cost of the 432 tiles
432 times $ .72 = $ 311.04
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW TO SOLVE THE
TILE PROBLEM?
Step 1: Problem Translation

Linguistic Knowledge - need to be able to understand
English sentences in order to recognize the facts of the problem
(What are the givens? What is the problem goal?)
For the tile problem:
- room is rectangle, 7.2 by 5.4 meters
- each tile costs $ .72
- goal is to find total cost of tiling the room
Translation process also requires factual knowledge about
mathematics
- one meter equals 100 cm
STUDENTS HAVE DIFFICULTY WITH
RELATIONAL STATEMENTS
“Mary is twice as old as Betty was 2 years ago. Mary is

40 years old. How old is Betty?
“Joe has three marbles. Tom has five more marbles

than Joe. How many marbles does Tom have?”
Children often remember the “Joe” problem as “Joe has

three marbles. Tom has five marbles. How many marbles
does Tom have?”
Key Finding: when children make mistakes in recalling

relational statements, they drop the relational term
DO COLLEGE STUDENTS HANDLE RELATIONAL
STATEMENTS BETTER?
“There are six times as many students as professors at

this University.”
Represent this sentence as an equation.
6S = 1P versus S = 6P
Results: 1/3 of college students get this problem wrong
MORE ON HOW COLLEGE STUDENTS HANDLE
RELATIONAL STATEMENTS
“The area occupied by an unframed rectangular picture is

64 square inches less than the area occupied by the picture
mounted in a frame 2 inches wide. What are the dimensions
of the picture if it is 4 inches longer than it is wide? ”
Results: easier to remember simple assignment statements
(frame is 2 inches wide) than relational statements. 9%
errors versus 29%
Like young children, when college students make mistakes
in recalling relational statements, they drop the relational
term.
IMPLICATIONS FOR INSTRUCTION:
TEACHING PROBLEM TRANSLATION SKILLS
• practice identifying problem givens and goals
• make sure students have prerequisite factual knowledge
• practice generating relevant factual knowledge for

particular problem
• encourage multiple representations, e.g., draw pictures

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW TO SOLVE THE
TILE PROBLEM?
Step 2: Problem Integration

Schematic Knowledge - need to integrate information into
a coherent representation, need to recognize problem type
For the tile problem:
- this is a rectangle problem
- need to use the rectangle area formula to solve the
problem
Area = length x width
*** Problem Integration involves more than statement by
statement translation
PROBLEM INTEGRATION ENABLES YOU TO
RECOGNIZE INCONSISTENCIES
“The number of quarters a man has is seven times the

number of dimes he has. The value of dimes exceeds the
value of the quarters by $2.50. How many has he of each
coin?
WRITE THE EQUATIONS YOU NEED TO SOLVE

THE PROBLEM AND THEN SOLVE!
Q = 7D
D (.10) = 2.50 + Q (.25)
Anything wrong?
PROBLEM INTEGRATION ENABLES YOU TO
CONSTRUCT A SITUATION MODEL
Can you give an example of a concrete situation that

corresponds to:
3 1
1
4 2
That is, create a simple word problem that could

be solved by the above equation.
Problems of this type were given to elementary school

teachers in the U.S. and China
(try to do this yourself, sample answers - next slide)
STUDY ON SITUATION MODELS
U.S. vs. CHINESE TEACHERS
Incorrect model: “If you have one pie and 3/4 of another
pie to be divided equally by two people, how much pie will
each person get?”
Correct model: “If a team of workers construct 1/2

kilometer of road per day, how many days will it take them
to construct a road 1 and 3/4 kilometers long?”
Results: 96% of the U.S. teachers either could not describe

an appropriate concrete situation or produced an incorrect
model. 90% of the Chinese teachers produced correct
models. YIKES!!!!!
BASIC RESEARCH FINDINGS ON PROBLEM
INTEGRATION
• college students are able to categorize word problems

into types
• appropriate problem schemes enable students to identify

relevant versus irrelevant information
• confusion in problem type identification leads to

performance errors
• identification of problem type based on previous

experience, high frequency problem types easy to identify
and recall, low frequency types sometimes changed to a
more common type
SAMPLE STORY PROBLEM - TRY TO SOLVE THIS
Both Smith and Jones were New Year’s babies and each
planned a surprise visit on their mutual birthday. Jones had
started out for Smith’s house traveling due east on Route
210 just 2 minutes after Smith had left for Jones’ house.
Smith was traveling directly south on Route 140. Jones was
traveling 30 miles per hour faster than Smith even though
their houses were only five miles apart as the crow flies.
Their cars crashed at the right-angle intersection of the two
highways. Officer Franklin, who observed the crash,
determined that Jones was traveling half again as fast as
Smith at the time of the crash. Smith had been driving for
just 4 minutes at the time of the crash. The crash occurred
nearer to the house of the dead man than to the house of the
survivor. Who died?
THE SMITH/JONES STORY PROBLEM SOLUTION
Step 1: Find the number of minutes each driver was on

the road before the accident.
Smith - 4 minutes (in the text) Jones - 2 minutes
Step 2: Find the speed each was travelling.
X = Smith’s speed X + 30 = Jones’ speed
1.5 (X) = X + 30
60 miles per hr = Smith 90 miles per hr = Jones
Step 3: Find the distance each traveled
For Smith: 60 miles in 60 minutes, he traveled 4 miles in
4 minutes
For Jones: 90 miles in 60 minutes, he traveled 3 miles in
2 minutes
WHICH TWO PROBLEMS BELONG TOGETHER?
1. A personnel expert wishes to determine whether experienced

typists are able to type faster than inexperienced typists. 20 expert
typists (5 yr or more experience) and 20 inexperienced typists (less
than 5 yrs) are given a typing test. Each typist’s average number of
words per minute is recorded.
2. A personnel expert wished to determine whether typing
experience goes with faster typing speeds. 40 typists are asked to
report their years of experience as typists and are given a typing
test to determine their average number of words per minute.
3. After examining weather data for the last 50 years, a
meteorologist claims that the annual precipitation varies with
average temperature. For each of 50 years, she notes the annual
rainfall and average temperature.
Experienced math problem solvers pick 2 and 3
Inexperienced math problem solvers pick 1 and 2.
PROBLEM TRANSLATION VERSUS INTEGRATION
“At Lucky, butter costs 65 cents per stick.

This is 2 cents less per stick than butter at Vons.
If you need to buy 4 sticks of butter,
how much will you pay at Vons?
Direct translation approach: Student notes “65 cents”,

then reads “2 cents less” so subtracts “2” from “65” and
obtains 63 cents. He/she then multiples by 4, obtaining
an answer of $2.52.
Problem integration approach: Student constructs a

mental model of the information. He/she is more likely to
correctly interpret “This” in the second sentence as
referring to butter at Lucky.
CAN THESE PROBLEMS BE SOLVED?
ANY IRRELEVANT INFORMATION?
1. A rectangular lawn is 12 meters long and 5 meters wide.

Calculate the area of a path 1.75 meters wide around the
lawn.
2. The length of a rectangular park is 6 meters more than its
width. A walkway 3 meters wide surrounds the park. Find
the dimensions of the park if it has an area of 432 square
meters.
3. The lengths of the sides of a blackboard are in a 2:3 ratio.
What is the perimeter (in meters) of the blackboard?
*** Most high school students make mistakes on more than

half of problems like the ones shown above.
IMPLICATIONS FOR INSTRUCTION:
TEACHING PROBLEM INTEGRATION SKILLS
• use varied presentation to encourage students to

discriminate among problem types
• encourage students to draw diagrams
• practice sorting problems into categories
• practice identifying relevant and irrelevant information

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MATH

Floor tiles are sold in squares 30 cm on each side.

ONE POSSIBLE SOLUTION PLAN

Step 1: change width & length into number of tiles

Step 1: Problem Translation

“Mary is twice as old as Betty was 2 years ago. Mary is

“Joe has three marbles. Tom has five more marbles

Children often remember the “Joe” problem as “Joe has

Key Finding: when children make mistakes in recalling

“There are six times as many students as professors at

“The area occupied by an unframed rectangular picture is

• practice identifying problem givens and goals

• make sure students have prerequisite factual knowledge

• practice generating relevant factual knowledge for

• encourage multiple representations, e.g., draw pictures

Step 2: Problem Integration

“The number of quarters a man has is seven times the

WRITE THE EQUATIONS YOU NEED TO SOLVE

Can you give an example of a concrete situation that

That is, create a simple word problem that could

Problems of this type were given to elementary school

Correct model: “If a team of workers construct 1/2

Results: 96% of the U.S. teachers either could not describe

• college students are able to categorize word problems

• appropriate problem schemes enable students to identify

• confusion in problem type identification leads to

• identification of problem type based on previous

Step 1: Find the number of minutes each driver was on

1. A personnel expert wishes to determine whether experienced

“At Lucky, butter costs 65 cents per stick.

Direct translation approach: Student notes “65 cents”,

Problem integration approach: Student constructs a

1. A rectangular lawn is 12 meters long and 5 meters wide.

*** Most high school students make mistakes on more than

• use varied presentation to encourage students to

• encourage students to draw diagrams

• practice sorting problems into categories

• practice identifying relevant and irrelevant information

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