Professional Reading - The Impact of vocabulary on numeracy - Paul Swan - 18/02

Professional Reading - The Impact of vocabulary on numeracy - Paul Swan -18/02

WHAT

Students ability to read mathematics questions has a big impact on their ability to solve word problems

Only a small number of problems are presented without any words at all.

Students need to be able to not just read word problems, but comprehend what they mean.

Mathematical texts often use symbols

When reading written text we read top left to bottom right. In mathematics we often have to stop, look at a graphic, and then continue to read the sentence

Students need to know between 90 and 95% of the text in order to comprehend it.

Providing dictionary definitions do not help as these can further confuse children.

SO WHAT

Teachers can use direct teaching methods involving introducing words as the beginning of a lesson

It is important that schools agree on a vocabulary list that is consistent across the school

Vocabulary routines can be used to teach mathematical vocabulary. For example battleships, which one doesn't belong, mystery object, graphic organisers or digrammatic representations of word problems

NOW WHAT

After our last maths PD sessions it has been firmly imprinted in my brain the importance of giving students the opportunity to create a visual. Using Diagrammatic representations when presenting students with word problems is one way that I can help students to comprehend the problem. One easy to use format is the BAR model which I can use for word problems that involve addition and subtraction.