Student Work #4 Post

My MT divided the students into groups of 3 or 4 and worked on word problems such as the one above. They had to solve the problem and demonstrate how they figured it out. In this problem the following question is asked, “Charles wants to plant 35 flowers in 5 flower beds. He decides to plant the same number in each flower bed. How many does he plant in each?” Each student group had a different problem and had to present their solution to the rest of the class. They had to walk through how they solved the problem. Each problem that the groups worked on was a concept they have previously worked on. The big idea was to figure out a way to solve the problem and demonstrate the division, multiplication or addition in a picture or another way to explain the class. My MT wanted to make sure the students worked in a group since there are many ways to solve this problem.

            One possible effect way to approach this problem is to introduce the concept of division with a word problem like this. Since division is basically dividing groups into equal parts this word problem demonstrates this completely. It also allows students to relate division to real life problems such as gardening. Another way you can approach this problem is to have manipulatives for the different parts of this problem so in this case 35 flowers and 5 flower beds. This way the students can manipulate and move around the pieces until the groups are divided evenly. After the groups are even the students can write a sentence explaining the grouping of the manipulatives. One anticipated student approach is for students to come up with a simple division problem such as 35 / 5 = 7. In this case the students are able to pull out the numbers needed to create the problem. Another approach is that the students draw a picture demonstrating equal groups for this problem. They draw 5 flower beds with a certain number of flowers in each group.

            It seems like this group figured out that it was a division problem and solved for 7 as their answer. From there they drew an oval represent a flower bed and circles representing the flowers. For each flower bed they wrote ‘7’ meaning it was one group of 7. There are 5 flower beds drawn with 7 flowers so there are 5 groups of 7 in all. They could have counted the groups by 7’s to get to 35 to check their answer. Or they could have counted all of the circles in all to get 35. These students demonstrate the ability to create a drawing to explain a division word problem. They correctly used the variables in the word problem to solve the equation. These students demonstrated that they can solve a division word problem using images and variables. One way to advance their thinking is to give them many word problems similar to this by dividing groups into equal parts and division with remainders to see if they are able to determine what to do with unequal groups. As well, I would want these students to create their own word problems similar to this style and teach it to their peers.