As a parent, are you experiencing the challenge of your children not enjoying solving word problems? Perhaps it may seem like no matter what you try, your child still has difficulties or dislike solving their word problems. Here are some ideas to make help your child to enjoy solving word problems.
1.Encouragement and Rewards
Some children do not enjoy solving word problems since they feel that their instructors do not appreciate their little achievements. Motivation is among the leading factors to improving children’s perception of learning in class. Giving encouragement and rewards to the child will enable the child to know their effort is being recognised and push them to do better themselves.
At our tuition centre, teachers show children that they appreciate their effort through verbal encouragement like ‘good work’ or ‘great job’ as well as written encouragement on their worksheets. In providing verbal encouragement constantly, students who may be struggling with their word problems will feel motivated to continue learning and help to increase their confidence. Giving small rewards to the child when they did well or tried their best can further help to increase their motivation in learning word problems.
2. Bridging Gaps of The Process of Solving Word Problems
A significant number of children fail to solve word problems due to parents or teachers neglecting or overlooking any concept that the child does not seem to grasp.
After identifying where the child is stuck in a word problem, you can give them clues by using real-life examples that they are able to associate with. If they still have difficulties associating with the hints, you can provide them with more easily comprehensible clues until they figure out the trick of the word problem. In helping the child with such a process, they will begin to familiarise themselves with how they can successfully solve problems and will then employ this problem-solving logic in other aspects of their life, academic or not.
In Math Note, our teachers are trained to bridge the gap by helping the child find out why they are unable to solve the problem.
3. Patience
Some children might take a longer time to process the word problem. Allow time for the child to think and brainstorm the question. Do not rush the the child or get impatient when they did the question wrongly. This will result in the child having no confidence or anxiety in solving word problem.
At our tuition centre, teachers are patient and assist our students when they are stuck on particular word problems.
4. Ensure Presentability
Children may find it challenging to solve word problems due to lack of properly organised work. In this case, the only solution is for the children to be neat in their presentations. At our tuition centre, teachers ensure the children draw neat and presentable models in their work. Our teachers also write out every single step in the investigation and familiarise our students with the following steps;
Carefully reading the problem
Establishing the facts
Figuring out what the word problem requires
Drawing diagrams
Formula development
Figure out the answer
When children’s presentations are neat, they are able to see their sequence of thought independently themselves. A neat model means that the student will be better positioned to visualise and represent word problem tricks on a model. With the methods taught by our teachers as well as the hard work of our students to hone these skills, the student will be able to ensure all their work is neat and presentable. Furthermore, this is a good habit that our students can apply to their other subjects beyond Mathematics.
5. Passion, Dedication and Enthusiasm
Children are easily feel the passion of the person teaching them. When they feel your passion or enthusiasm in helping them to solve the word problem, they will try their best to do it and have the motivation to learn. Show the child the sense of achievement and satisfaction when the word problem is solved, this will have a positive influence on them in working with word problems.
The teachers at our centre are passionate about the subject and enthusiastic in sharing their knowledge. They enjoy equipping the children with the knowledge and skills of solving word problems and seek to instil a similar sense of passion in the students. After lessons, the students will realise that they can have fun while at the same time, improving on their word-problem solving skills.
In seeing our teachers’ dedication and patience, along with parental encouragement and motivation, the student will come to enjoy solving word problems in no time.
