To learn why numberless word problems are absolutely incredible, please first read my blog post about my experience using numberless word problems with a class of 5th grade students.
Numberless word problems help engage students and increase mathematical communication while also providing a deep understanding of the problem situation for English Language Learners. And they are SUPER easy to write!
I recommend working with 4 slides in either PowerPoint or Google Slides.
1. Start with a word problem and work backwards.
I started with this problem on slide 4:
Luis spends 6.3 hours each week playing video games. He also spends 3.5 hours each week playing basketball. How much more time does he spend each week playing video games than basketball?
2. Change details to fit your student population and what you are working on in math class.
I immediately changed basketball to soccer since that is the most popular sport among my students. I also change 6.3 to 6.25 for two reasons. The first is because 6.3 is a very difficult time to visualize in minutes and hours. The second reason was because I wanted the students to practice subtracting decimals that had a different number of digits. My problem is now written as:
Luis spends 6.25 hours each week playing video games. He also spends 3.5 hours each week playing soccer. How much more time does he spend each week playing video games than soccer?
Now you are done with the 4th slide.
3. Remove the question.
Boom. You just made the 3rd slide! My problem situation is now:
Luis spends 6.25 hours each week playing video games. He also spends 3.5 hours each week playing soccer.
4. Move to the first slide. Remove all the numbers and replace them with words.
Keep it as vague as possible. Use words like:
- some
- an amount
My problem is now:
Luis spends some time each week playing video games. He also spends some time each week playing soccer.
This is how you will start the problem with your students. Notice… there are no numbers! The students can focus on the situation and make predictions. They can talk about vocabulary, and they can think about what kind of information might be presented to them next. One student even began to imagine what the life of Luis might be like.
Now you are done with slide 1!
5. Strategically add some more information.
I added the following information to my problem for slide 2:
Luis spends 6.25 hours each week playing video games. He spends less time each week playing soccer.
I purposely didn’t reveal all the information just yet because I wanted them to really think about what the word less means. We have been working on comparing decimals so this was a perfect opportunity to ask the students if it would be possible for Luis to play 7 hours of soccer or 6 hours of soccer. Students could make reasonable predictions on what the amount of time playing soccer might be.
And now you are done! This can be applied to any word problem with any mathematical concept. If you would like to use two of my samples with your class or even just use them as a guide when you are creating your own problems, they can be downloaded for free!
I hope you enjoy this process with your students! Please share how it went with your class in the comments!
