Language challenged 3rd graders might find this problem difficult to navigate:
Riverside School had 517 students last year. This year, 60 students moved away before school started. How many students does the school have now?
A nonlinguistic representation to help students create a mental picture of, and organize, the essential information.
| TOTAL | |
| Part | Part |
Substituting the information from the problem, our representation becomes:
| 517 students (Total) | |
| 60 students (Part) | Part |
Using this representation, it is perhaps clearer to students that they are looking for the difference between 60 and 517. They could then solve the problem in one of two ways: by counting on from 60, or by subtracting 60 from 517.
Looking at a second problem, we find:
Ocean View School had 641 students last year. This year, there are 168 more students. How many students does the school have now?
| Students now (Total) | |
| 641 students (Part) | 168 more students (Part) |
Students should see that when the total is unknown, as in this case, they will need to combine the parts.
Perhaps this underused strategy - creating powerful mental images - will give your students a powerful new tool for interpreting word problems!
Perhaps this underused strategy - creating powerful mental images - will give your students a powerful new tool for interpreting word problems!
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