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De-Centralized Groups Use Technology to
Solve Math Word Problems

Summerland School Art Classes

Each evening my dad would come up the steps onto the wide front porch where my sisters and I rode our rocking horse and pulled each other on skates.  He would sit down and pull the loose change out of his pocket. “Helen: you, Carol and Anna divide the money equally, and let’s contemplate some questions.” 

Today, Carol runs her own accounting business, Anna is a finance manager for the City of Vacaville, and I am an elementary teacher vastly interested in the “hands-on” collaborative approach to mathematical real-world problems. Curiosity drives me to ask, “How can I provide tools to my students to enable them to become successful problems solvers?”  and mirror requirements in the CAASPP, which asks the question “How well can students think logically and express their thoughts in order to solve a math problem?”

The school, I teach for, Edwin Markham Elementary, Vacaville has scored 10% lower than the state average for many years and as a school we need to find a better way to support our students.  Last June, my third-grade partner, Stephanie walked into my classroom and declared, “You said you would get your masters when I was ready, and I am ready.” So began my journey in innovative learning. At the start of this master’s program I had limited knowledge in Microsoft Office, some observation: of others using Google apps, and my students using a few apps provided by our school’s site.  However, with the onset of computer-based testing, a pedagogy change at my school from Explicit Direct Instruction, to Guided Language Acquisition Design, and content change as we adopt knew materials to meet the common core standards, I knew I needed to radically change the learning experience of my students.
I started researching, “What effect does collaboration have on students’ ability to solve mathematical word problems?  However, in the implementation of collaborative groups, I discovered that my at-risk students were not achieving their desired goals.  So, I decided to add teacher created animated video. Embedded in google forms and supported with teacher created memory games, these videos help to provide all students with the background knowledge they need to more effectively communicate in their de-centralized groups.  

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In my attempts to create the technology-based teaching materials I would need, I quickly discovered how complex the process of solving math word problems could be.  Hence, I began to focus on skills the students would need and altered my research to “What effect does technology and collaboration have on primary students’ ability to attack math word problems?”   I found that students need teacher explanation as well as repeatable lessons to help them build these skills.
To further employ student centered learning and technology I asked the students to follow a math plan and solve a two-step math problem, for which they wrote a script for solving the problem. Each group then made their word problem into a google slide deck, and using their script gave their lesson a life of its’ own through screen-cast.   Data from the summative assessment showed significant improvement for all my students in their endeavor to express their thoughts in order to solve a math word problem.

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LESSONS

HOW-TOs

REFERENCES

ASSESSMENT

What is under the other links?

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Steps building from Direct Explicit Instruction to Student Group Work to Student Productions

Creating Microsoft PowerPoint Animations, Google Games

Video samples embedded in Google Forms & Surveys of Student Reactions

Valuable resources that guided the project.

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Best Tools and Apps

Screencastify: Third grade students can create a video within to class lesson.  Video any production students make on their electronic screen, and add narration.  This is great for flipped teaching.

Google Forms and Slides: 
G suite are very useful for building interactive lessons, and surveying your students.

Google Slides: This icon is linked to a webinar illustrating how to make a google slide game.

Microsoft Office PowerPoint:  Slide show that can be turn into a video.   Might be used  to create animation, embed music, and narration for lessons.