Math in the Middle Institute Partnership
Date of this Version
7-2009
Abstract
In this study of my fifth grade mathematics class, I investigated how the use of different reading strategies impacted my students’ problem solving. I implemented various reading strategies throughout a three-month time period. Teaching my students to break down story problems, learn the steps in solving them, write their own story problems, create math dictionaries, write story problem webs, and listen to themselves reading problems created more confidence in them and increased the likelihood that they would use these strategies on their own. In this research, it was quite obvious to me through some pre-testing that my students struggled with word problems. As a result of this research, I found that I was able to help some individuals improve on their abilities to focus on and solve word problems by implementing reading strategies. As a result of my study, I plan to keep implementing these strategies into my lesson plans and keep reading strategies and problem solving a focus of my mathematics classroom.
Comments
Math in the Middle Institute Partnership, Action Research Project Report, in partial fulfillment of the MA Degree. Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education. University of Nebraska-Lincoln. July 2009.