Investigations Blog
A Conversation about “Key Words”
In my years of leading in-person and online professional development, the idea of teaching students that certain “key words” signify a particular operation (e.g. “altogether means add”) often comes up when discussing story problems. People also generally see the power of the story problem routine that Investigations uses to support students in making sense of and solving story problems. This led me to start a conversation in a recent online course about the juxtaposition between the focus of...
read moreThe Bad Rep of Word Problems: “Two trains leave the station…”
When people want to make a joke about how difficult, convoluted, or inaccessible word problems are, they often cite some version of the “two trains” problem. You can see an example of this problem here: Maybe you want to try solving this problem yourself before reading on. (Maybe not!) The “two trains” problem has become an emblem in popular culture. Saying the opening phrase, “Two trains leave different stations at the same time …,” invariably results in uncomfortable laughter. It surfaces...
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