General Interest Archives - Page 5 of 9

When Should and Shouldn’t We Give Answers?

Over a year ago, I blogged about The 1–10 Card Investigation. I didn't provide a solution to the problem and no one who commented asked for one. But a newly posted comment requested the solution. That pushed me into a conversation with myself about how I should respond, and about giving answers in general.

Marilyn BurnsFebruary 5, 2017

Assessment Books by Marilyn Division General Interest Math and Literature Multiplication Number and Operations Numerical Reasoning Problem Solving Word Problems

One Lesson, Three Grades, Three Twists

The children's book 17 Kings and 42 Elephants by Margaret Mahy is one of my long-time favorites. In this post I describe a division lesson that I’ve taught to third graders but recently revisited with fourth- and fifth-grade classes. With the older students, we tried extensions that differentiated the experience and put students in charge of deciding on problems for themselves. It was exciting to me to expand a lesson I've taught many times into a multi-day investigation.

Marilyn BurnsJanuary 30, 2017

Games General Interest Multiplication Number and Operations

Multiplication Bingo

Will Multiplication Bingo guarantee that students learn the multiplication facts? No. But it will help familiarize them with factors and multiples, engage them in a game that involves both luck and strategy, encourage them to make conjectures, and have them use data to guide decisions. Plus, the game provides a way to send home information to families about how their children are being asked to think and reason in math class.

Marilyn BurnsNovember 28, 2016

Books by Marilyn General Interest Geometry

“Student-Centered” vs “Traditional” Math Teaching

In a recent email, a teacher friend commented on what she described as a struggle in her school district about math teaching. She wrote: "There is a bit of tug of war going on between student-centered teaching and traditional teaching." This isn’t the first time I’ve heard a comment like this. Here’s the response I wrote to her.

Marilyn BurnsNovember 10, 2016

Assessment Data General Interest Number and Operations Numerical Reasoning Real-World Problems

Beans and Scoops

Lessons using beans and scoops have long been part of my teaching repertoire. I’ve used beans, scoops, and jars to engage students in all grade levels with a variety of mathematical ideas. In this post, I write about how I recently taught a lesson to give students experience with estimation, averages, multiplication, and more. Read about how I planned the lesson, how it unfolded, and suggestions for extensions and other lessons.

Marilyn BurnsNovember 1, 2016

General Interest Numerical Reasoning Problem Solving Real-World Problems

Always Try a Problem Before You Assign It

Have you ever thought about this numerical sequence—0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12? What does the sequence have to do with unicycles, bicycles, and tricycles? And what's my mathematical and pedagogical quandary? Read more and find out.

Marilyn BurnsSeptember 14, 2016

Fractions General Interest Number and Operations Numerical Reasoning

An Important Teacher Decision: When and When Not to Give the Answer?

When should a teacher resolve a question for students and when is it OK, or even a better instructional decision, to let confusion ride? I recently was confronted with this situation with fourth graders. Read about what happened and what I did.

Marilyn BurnsMay 16, 2016

Algebra General Interest Problem Solving Videos

An Oldie Revisited: The Border Problem

Here's one of my favorite oldies. (No, not the photo—the border problem.) I was so pleased to see this math investigation included in Jo Boaler’s latest paper. This blog post presents a detailed lesson plan for using the border problem with students and also includes a five-minute video clip to give you a sense of how the instruction went with one class.

Marilyn BurnsApril 19, 2016

General Interest Number and Operations Numerical Reasoning Subtraction

Does Changing Subtraction to Addition Make It Easier?

Teachers have always told me that paper-and-pencil subtraction when problems call for regrouping is hard to teach and hard for students to learn. Much harder than addition. So why subtract when you can always add? That’s what my friend Nicholas thought, and he taught me how.

Marilyn BurnsApril 7, 2016

General Interest Number and Operations Numerical Reasoning Place Value

A Reponse to Joe Schwartz’s Blog about Algorithms

I was recently planning to teach my friend Ruth Cossey’s elementary math methods class at Mills College in Oakland, California. Digging through my collection of student work, I found a paper from a third grader I had interviewed. When doing interviews, I typically ask students to figure out answers in their heads, but I agreed when Nomar asked for paper and pencil for some of the problems.

Marilyn BurnsApril 4, 2016

General Interest