Students often struggle to connect math with the real world. Word problems—a combination of words, numbers, and mathematical operations—can be a perfect vehicle to take abstract numbers off the page.

When you hear the word "math," you probably think about adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. To solve these operations — and more complicated ones down the road — kids need problem-solving ...

Segue Institute for Learning teacher Cassandra Santiago introduces a lesson on word problems to her first graders one spring afternoon. Credit: Phillip Keith for The Hechinger Report The Hechinger ...

Want to learn more? Sign up for a free five-week email mini-course full of research-backed strategies to help students make sense of math. Give Cindy Cliche a math word problem, and she can tell you ...

Here's the thing about math that nobody tells you: it's less about memorizing formulas and more about knowing which tools to reach for. By fourteen, students should have a problem-solving toolkit that ...

Solve word problems using a checklist. Engage in a Number Talk to find "how many." Solve addition and subtraction word problems with a Step-by-Step Visual Model checklist. Understand what the problem ...

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