Joker Posted September 8, 2010 Share Posted September 8, 2010 We sent my dd, 10, to ps this year. She will be returning home shortly. Most of the work they are doing seems to be things she learned in third grade and we were just really hoping she might be able to get "something" out of it but it's just not gonna happen. Anyway, I did have ? about bar diagrams. They are supposed to show their answers to story problems in a bar diagram. My dd reads the problem and can figure out the answer without the bar diagram but is getting counted as having a wrong answer because she is not transferring the info. to the diagram correctly. She's figuring it out but doesn't get the why. I looked up bar diagrams online and I thought it looked to be a visual aid to help work problems. Should one still need to be able to put info into diagram if they can figure out the answer without it? Is it helpful at all used this way? TIA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barb_ Posted September 8, 2010 Share Posted September 8, 2010 I'm assuming you mean Singapore Math-style bars? My kids complain when I make them use the bars on easy problems too. But the bars are a tool that is best learned when the student can see the way clear to the answer. Trying to learn the bar system on complicated multi-step problems throws an extra learning curve into the equation. The problems may be purposefully simpler to help the transition to the different system of problem solving. At this point, the process is the point, rather than the answer. Barb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted September 8, 2010 Share Posted September 8, 2010 We sent my dd, 10, to ps this year. She will be returning home shortly. Most of the work they are doing seems to be things she learned in third grade and we were just really hoping she might be able to get "something" out of it but it's just not gonna happen. Anyway, I did have ? about bar diagrams. They are supposed to show their answers to story problems in a bar diagram. My dd reads the problem and can figure out the answer without the bar diagram but is getting counted as having a wrong answer because she is not transferring the info. to the diagram correctly. She's figuring it out but doesn't get the why. I looked up bar diagrams online and I thought it looked to be a visual aid to help work problems. Should one still need to be able to put info into diagram if they can figure out the answer without it? Is it helpful at all used this way? TIA! You know I have very mixed emotions on this one. My oldest is dysgraphic, and a common issue they have is being able to come up with the correct answer and not be able to explain how. What you are describing is an on going issue here. To date I haven't required bar diagrams. She does fine on most of the problems, but about 25% she needs it to figure out the problem. With those 25% it is a battle. About half of them I have to help her with. To do it over again would I require the diagrams? Not sure I would. This is a great tool, but only used through level 6. In the higher levels they move to algebra and drop the diagrams (I have that from Jenny who wrote the HIG's). The problem is one is making the assumption that if I required it on all problems that she would get it and all would be happy. I am just not sure it would be that easy for my dd. I bet I would have to slow her math down, or see her time spent on math double. I honestly am not sure it is worth it, given it will go away. It is a good tool, one she can use at times, but worth the negativity that it will cause, her hating math, me having to be the bad guy? Not worth it here. But if this is in a school setting it is very likely that they want to see it to make sure the children isn't using algebra or cheating. I am not sure in that case it is just about the bar diagrams. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowfall Posted September 8, 2010 Share Posted September 8, 2010 (edited) If she wants to get a good grade, yes. If she wants to get the right answer, no. However, if she enjoys math, she should figure out how to do them, before they convince her that she's math challenged and no good at it. That was my experience all through public school math, although not specifically with bar diagrams, which I was never taught to use. I could do complicated word problems in my head, but I couldn't show how, so I was consistently given half credit. It didn't cripple me in my life, but the fact that I was always suspected of cheating or told I didn't understand what I was doing pretty much shut me out of pursuing anything that involved much math, despite the fact that I was extremely interested in physics. Soooo, it really isn't relevant to her being able to get the right answer, if she's anything like me (I was doing this all the way through Algebra I in hs) but it will not be good for the way she perceives her math ability if she isn't taught how to do it and always gets half credit. She ought to learn how for those reasons. :) Editing....sorry, I made my whole post, then remembered you said you're bringing her back home. Then it only matters for when she goes to college. She'll need to show her algebra work in college algebra or any higher math class. Edited September 8, 2010 by Snowfall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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