Totally distracted...

[Night Elf]

I have a math test in 2.5 hours and I'm surfing the boards!! :tongue_smilie:

 

I hate word problems. I really, really hate solving word problems and this is an education class asking me to create them!

 

One of my problems: 16 times 1/8 and asked to create a word problem involving ice cream quantities.

 

It took me 10 mins. to come up with this: One cone holds 1/8 pint. How many pints are needed to fill 16 cones?

 

It's a good thing this is a 2-hr class. ugh

[Pamela H in Texas]

I was looking at one of my testing assignments last night trying to do similarly. I have to come up with X number of each kind of problem and it has to have no bias and meet other requirements. I looked through another assignment where I have to say if the question is biased or inappropriate or okay. If it's biased or inappropriate, I have to say how (and if wrong in more than one way, I have to state ALL the ways) and how to fix. At first glance, I thought the questions were decent enough. Uh Oh!

 

Beth, is your test about the math or about the questions or both?

[Night Elf]

Beth, is your test about the math or about the questions or both?

 

It's a class to make future teachers aware that there are different ways to approach math problems. We have to be able to understand each child's way and not grade them on one standard algorithm. We generally write out why things are done to show we understand, almost like interpreting a student's work.

 

There are some strange ways of math in this course. I am amazed that kids would come up with such creative ways of handling math problems.

 

Here's an example:

 

What is 79 - 32? Becky answers, 8 to 40, 30 to 70, and 9 more. It's shopkeepers math but I would be surprised to see a young elementary level student come up with that one. Am I off base?

 

And the chapter on base numbers. Egads! :tongue_smilie: Half of my class was complaining that no one would ever teach that and our grade was going to be affected by something we have never used nor will ever teach. I actually found it interesting after I got the hang of it.

[5wolfcubs]

How was the test? Any problems involving elves? My kids would like a math course where the word problems did not involve barrettes, stickers or marbles but rather elves, swords, and the like. :)

[Ali in OR]

I very briefly wrote problems for a math textbook that a major publisher was having written (they hire math teachers to check problems, make up answer keys, and even make up problems). I wish that I had saved the list of rules that they gave me for the word problems I created. None of the rules applied to the actual math. I do remember that we were not allowed to use titles like Mr. and Mrs. in the problems and that you could not have a situation that depicted women in traditional roles. It's okay (and encouraged) to have problems about female truck drivers, engineers, and doctors, but not about moms, teachers, and nurses. Ugh! Tell me there is no bias there. But that's what it takes to get the textbooks approved for use in California.

[Night Elf]

How was the test? Any problems involving elves? My kids would like a math course where the word problems did not involve barrettes, stickers or marbles but rather elves, swords, and the like. :)

 

I'm confident I did well, but he hasn't posted the grades yet. Hopefully tomorrow. Well, since it's nearly 2am, I should say hopefully later today. :tongue_smilie: