Student Work 5

            I was unable to obtain a different math task from my students so I chose another word problem application they were assigned last week. Like I explained last week, my students were placed in groups of 3 where they had to solve a word problem by showing their work and explaining how they got their answer. After they group solved their word problem each group had to present it to the rest of class and work through their problem. The question for this specific word problem is, “Linda buys four items that cost $6.89, $4.59, $3.89, and $3.99. If she used her $20.00 bill, will it be enough to pay for all four items?” The big idea for this problem is being able to add money together to get a sum and determine if it the appropriate amount depending on the limits in the problem. The students have to understand the limits of money and how to add decimals. The students have to realize if they spent more than $20.00 that they don’t have enough money and need to subtract some items. This problem can relate to real life such as going to the movies or going to the store.

            One possible approach to this problem is to make manipulatives for each money amount so they represent something concrete. The teacher can also provide actual money manipulatives to help solve the problem. By having actual money bills and change the students can count the actual bills and change to get to the maximum amount of $20.00. One student approach to this problem is what my students did in this problem where they added all the items together to see if it added to less than or more than $20.00. If the sum is less than $20.00 then the students can see that they have enough money and do not need to finish any more steps. Another way the students could have added the items is to separate the decimals. The students could have added the dollar amounts and then separately added the cent amount. Then the third step would to be adding them together to see if they get under or over $20.00.

            These students demonstrated that they can add numbers with decimals. They were able to pull out the appropriate numbers in the word problem and add them together to get a sum. As well, the students demonstrated the knowledge of less than/greater than concept. They were able to put into words that their sum ($19.36) is less than $20.00 so they have enough money. This word problem contains concepts such as addition, money and greater than/less than that the students have already covered and reviewed. The students are able to demonstrate addition with decimals because of previous practice and maybe exposure to actual money before. They demonstrate that there is a limit to money and if they exceed $20.00 they cannot buy all 4 items.

            One way to advance the students thinking is to place it in a real life setting. There can be a picture of a movie theatre with images of items found there such as popcorn, candy, drinks, etc. with individual prices for each. The question can ask the students to come up with combinations of different items that add up to $20.00 and how many combos can they come up with. Another way is for them to start with an amount they think is appropriate to bring to the movies for food. The teacher can obtain actual prices for food items and the students can pick and choose the items they want for the amount they chose.