1. WE NEED A MATH
OVERHAUL !
FEWER ANSWER GETTING TECHNIQUES
&
MORE PATIENT PROBLEM SOLVERS
BY MARY ALLEN AND APRIL RAMIREZ
BASED ON VIDEOS BY DAN MEYER
AND PHIL DARO

2. WHY DO STUDENTS STRUGGLE WITH
MATH?
STUDENTS
STRUGGLE WITH
MATH BECAUSE
THEY TRY TO MAKE
SENSE OF WHAT
THEY ARE DOING…
WHAT DO ALL
THOSE FORMULAS
MEAN???

3. IS IT OUR FAULT?
• WHAT ARE WE TEACHING IN THE CLASSROOM?? WHAT IS IN OUR
TEXTBOOKS??
ANSWER GETTING TECHNIQUES
• WHAT AREN‘T WE TEACHING?
A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF MATH

4. WHY WE ARE DOING IT WRONG!
STUDENTS
• LACK INITIATIVE
• LACK PERSEVERANCE
• LACK RETENTION
• HAVE AN AVERSION TO WORD PROBLEMS – 99%
• HAVE AN EAGERNESS FOR FORMULA- OTHER 1%
DAN MEYER

5. WHY WE ARE DOING IT WRONG?
• “WE GIVE PROBLEMS TO STUDENTS BUT DON’T INVOLVE THEM IN
THE FORMULATION OF THE PROBLEM”…. DAN MEYER
“THE FORMULATION OF THE PROBLEM IS OFTEN
MORE ESSENTIAL THAN ITS SOLUTION, WHICH MAY
BE MERELY A MATTER OF MATHEMATICAL OR
EXPERIMENTAL SKILL.” ~ ALBERT EINSTEIN

6. CHANGE OUR WAY OF THINKING
―MATH ANSWERS ARE PART OF PROCESS NOT THE PRODUCT.
THE PRODUCT = STUDENT‘S MATH KNOWLEDGE AND KNOW HOW!‖
Phil Daro
WHAT IS THE MATH THEY
NEED TO KNOW AND
HOW WILL I USE THIS
PROBLEM TO TEACH
THAT MATH?

7. SOLUTIONS
• USE MULTIMEDIA: BRING REAL WORLD INTO THE CLASSROOM
• ENCOURAGE STUDENT INTUITION: LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD
• ASK SHORTEST QUESTIONS YOU CAN: MORE IMPORTANT
QUESTIONS WILL COME WITH CONVERSATIONS
• LET STUDENT BUILD PROBLEM
• BE LESS HELPFUL: GIVE THEM TIME TO THINK IT OUT
…. DAN MEYER

8. SOLUTIONS
• WE NEED MORE PATIENT PROBLEM SOLVING: STUDENTS NEED TO
UNDERSTAND THAT THE PROCESS IS AS IMPORTANT AS THE ANSWER.
• ―STUDENTS
NEED TO DECIDE, ‗ALL RIGHT, WELL, DOES THE HEIGHT MATTER? DOES
THE SIDE OF IT MATTER? DOES THE COLOR OF THE VALVE MATTER? WHAT MATTERS
HERE?‘ — SUCH AN UNDERREPRESENTED QUESTION IN MATH CURRICULUM.‖ DAN MEYER

9. THE FUTURE
TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS NEED TO CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE
STUDENTS LEARN HOW TO THINK NOT JUST GENERATE ANSWERS.
WE CAN‘T EXPECT STUDENTS TO CHANGE UNTIL WE CHANGE OURSELVES AND
OUR PROGRAMS
FOR OUR STUDENTS TO SUCCEED WE NEED TO PREPARE THEM TO BE REAL
WORLD PROBLEM SOLVERS.
MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE WE NEED TO BELIEVE
THAT OUR STUDENTS ARE CAPABLE OF THIS TYPE
OF THINKING