Grades 3-5 Math Problem Solving in Action_ Getting Students to Love Word Problems

The Language of Word Problems ◆ 83

Barwell (2011) (citing Gerofsky) points out how story problems have
a three-part structure.

1. Scenario (set-up)


2. Information about the situation


3. Question

Barwell points out that with word problems you can use the same
scenario but change the information and be able to work on different
mathematical concepts. We see this concept clearly with problems like:

A. The bakery has 50 cookies. There are 10 equal rows. How many

cookies are in each row?

B.^ The bakery has 50 cookies. There are 5 cookies in each row. How

many rows?

In one problem we are looking for how many are in each group, and in
the other problem we are looking at how many groups. The scenario stays
the same but the information in the scenario changes and so we get at
different aspects of division.
Barwell (2011) also says that word problems get so convoluted that
students can overthink them and stop reasoning. He gave this problem
as an example:

Steven earns $5 for every bundle of newspapers he delivers. He wants to

buy a game that costs $18. How many bundles of newspapers does Steven

need to deliver to earn enough money to buy this game?

Barwell (2011) says that students get distracted with thoughts like: “Who
is Steven?” “How many newspapers are there in a bundle” or “What is the
game he wants to buy and why is it so cheap?” He points out, “Often, stu-
dents combine the numbers in the problem in apparently non-sensical ways
or give unrealistic solutions. For example, students might find that Steven
must deliver 3.6 bundles, rather than a more realistic four bundles.” He points
out students can get so bogged down in the language of the problem that
there is a “suspension of sensemaking (Verschaffel, Greer^ & de Corte, 2000).”
Sometimes, students are victims of bad word problems that are not realistic
but “styled representations of hypothetical experiences (Lave, 1992).”
Furthermore, word problems use different tenses that can be very
challenging. For example:

Susie is 2 times older than her brother. She will be 15 in 1 year. How

old is her brother?

Students have to understand the present tense and the future tense.