Story Problem Presentations

Credits:

Steve Gandy

Mountain View Elementary School

Broomfield, Colorado

steve@stevegandy.com

 

 

Subject Matter:

Elementary, Language Arts (English), Mathematics, Technology

 

Grades:

4-5

 

Software Application:

StarOffice, Microsoft Office, AppleWorks, Kid Pix or HyperStudio.

 

 

Summary:

This lesson will provide the opportunity for students to analyze, solve, author, explain and publish a detailed multi-part math story problem. The problem and solution along with graphic aides will be published in a presentation format with StarOffice Impress.

 

State & National Standards:

CO- Colorado Academic Standards

´ Subject : Mathematics

´ Standard 6: Students link concepts and procedures as they develop and use computational techniques, including estimation, mental arithmetic, paper-and-pencil, calculators, and computers, in problem-solving situations and communicate the reasoning used in solving these problems.

Computation is an indispensable part of mathematics and our daily lives. We use it to balance our checkbooks, figure our taxes, and make business decisions. The basic facts of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are similarly indispensable. TodayÍs students must be able to use a variety of computational tools and techniques including estimation, mental arithmetic, paper-and-pencil, calculators, and computers. Estimation and mental arithmetic serve a practical function in our daily lives, and help students develop meaning for numbers and understanding of number relationships. The use of calculators and computers is not intended to replace proficiency with basic facts. Appropriate uses of calculators and computers include solving real-world problems that may involve tedious or time-consuming computations or exploring number patterns to develop understanding of numbers and number relationships. Proficiency with basic facts is essential for knowing when and how to use each of these tools and techniques. Computational skill is related to "operation sense". Students with operation sense know when and how to use addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and are able to apply them to solve real-world problems. Students build operation sense by modeling their understanding of number operations and their properties, by describing how number operations are related to one another, and by seeing how the use of a particular operation changes the value of the numbers involved. Computational skill and operation sense go hand in hand with number sense. When children have a well-developed sense of number and operations, they can more easily evaluate the reasonableness of their solutions. The ability to apply computational skills and operation sense will extend studentsÍ mathematical power by giving them confidence in their ability to work with numbers and to solve problems in a variety of situations.

´ Grade/Level : CO- Colorado Academic Standards

´ Grade/Level : Grades 5-8

 Performance Indicator 6.2: Constructing, using, and explaining procedures to compute and estimate with whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and integers

 Performance Indicator 6.4: Selecting and using appropriate methods for computing with commonly used fractions and decimals, percents, and integers in problem-solving situations from among mental arithmetic, estimation, paper-and-pencil, calculator, and computer methods, and determining whether the results are reasonable
´ Subject : Reading and Writing

´ Standard 2: Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences

Writing and speaking are essential tools for learning, for success in the workplace, and for responsible citizenship. Developing a range of writing and speaking abilities requires extensive study, practice, and thinking. Students need frequent opportunities to write and speak for different audiences and purposes, and they need to be able to communicate expressively, informatively, and analytically. Growth in writing and speaking abilities occurs by applying skills to increasingly challenging communication tasks

´ Grade/Level : CO- Colorado Academic Standards

´ Grade/Level : Grades 5-8

 Performance Indicator : choosing vocabulary and figures of speech that communicate clearly

 Performance Indicator : drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading for a legible final copy

 Performance Indicator : writing and speaking in the content areas (for example, science, geography, history, literature), using the technical vocabulary of the subject accurately

 

Local Standards:

Instructional Technology Skills Continuum Standard

#2: Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity.

- Begins using touch typing with home keys.

- Independently uses spell check and thesaurus.

- Changes character formatting such as font color.

- Utilizes different document layouts. (i.e. newsletter, etc.)

- Changes document formatting such as: alignment, bulleted/numbered lists, borders, line spacing, margins, etc.

- Inserts a graphic into a word-processed document.

- Uses import/export and copy/paste features to create a single document using more than one program.

- Uses drawing tools such as: selection tools, eyedropper, etc.

 

 

Lesson Outcomes:

Students will more fully understand the steps required to complete mutli-part math problems. Their skill on those problems should increase.

 

Students will gain experience in clearly stating directions and instructions in a written form.

 

Assessment:

The writing portion will be assessed with the math writing rubric attached in the rubric section.

 

The students will all be given the opportunity to solve the problems created by their classmates. Normal percentage scoring will be used for that assignment.

 

 

Student Prerequisites:

Students should have completed some grade level story problem assignments. Discussions of the solutions and strategies should have taken place.

 

Lesson Preparation:

Find good story problem examples, from the students' math books, to use as models. Decide how the graphics are going to be produced, with computer tools or markers that would have to be scanned.

 

Time Frame:

10 class periods. 45 Min. per class.

 

Implementation Steps:

Math Story Presentation Steps:

 

1. Introduce the project in the classroom, not the lab. Have the students use their Math text books as a resource of examples. Lead the discussion towards an understanding that there are some problems which are multi- step. Explain that they will be publishing a multi-media presentation with 5 parts; The Title and credits, The Problem, Graphic Hints, Call to Solve, and the Solution. Have them begin thinking about what they will write. Some will want to write it at home but ask that they only take notes on their ideas and do the actual writing in the lab, later.

 

2. In the lab, use the StarOffice word processing environment to write the first draft of the problems. The teacher will need to advise during this step. The problems should be neither too hard nor too easy. The difficulty could be adjusted depending on your intended audience (i.e. their own grade level or an earlier one). The focus should be on making the problem interesting. Do not allow any editing or spell checking. Assign the solution of their problem as homework if they haven't already done it.

 

3. In the lab, use the StarOffice word processing environment to open the problem from the previous session. Use the spell check feature, and proof reading skills to edit and revise the problem. The teacher should counsel those students whose problems are too easy or miss the mark. The goal is to make it clear, complete, and grammatically perfect. Depending on the functional level of the student and magnitude of the mistakes, more or less teacher help may be needed. Formatting, such as font, size, color, etc. is not needed. In fact, this is better left to the presentation creation steps.

 

4. In the lab, use the StarOffice word processing environment to write the first draft of the solutions. The teacher will need to advise during this step. The solutions should be complete. Mathematical terms should be used correctly. Clarity should be the focus of the writing. Do not allow any editing or spell checking.

 

5. In the lab, use the StarOffice word processing environment to open the solution from the previous session. Use the spell check feature, and proof reading skills to edit and revise the solution. The goal is to make it grammatically perfect. Depending on the functional level of the student and magnitude of the mistakes, more or less teacher help may be needed. Formatting, such as font, size, color, etc. is not needed. In fact, this is better left to the presentation creation steps.

 

6 & 7. In the lab, use the StarOffice drawing environment or image editor or a combination of the two to create the graphic aids for the problems. Each environment has its challenges for students but for this assignment the drawing environment is probably better. In drawing, each shape drawn becomes a distinct movable, changeable object so actually "drawing a picture" is difficult but not impossible. See the Drawing Environment Notes resource.

 

Besides the graphic aids for solving the problem, you may want them to create a smaller graphic to appear on the title page of the presentation.

 

Images could be created by hand, then scanned and imported later. Images could be done in the Mac Lab using Kid Pix or AppleWorks then imported. If this is the case they must be saved in a portable format (i.e. jpeg or gif).

 

8 & 9. In the lab, use the StarOffice Impress presentation environment to begin the actual publishing of the project. Begin with the New Presentation icon on the StarOffice desktop. This leads the students through the configuration steps for creating a multimedia presentation.

 

Give the students a "tour" of the presentation (navigation, show controls, insert new slide, view controls etc.)

 

Have them create the Title and credits, the Problem, Graphic Hints, Call to Solve, and the Solution pages. Care should be taken to choose the slide types that will fit the different needs (i.e. a blank slide for the Graphic Hints page). Have the students save often.

 

When ready:

1.open the question word processing document

2.select all the text

3.choose copy from the Edit Menu

4.close the document

5.place the cursor into the correct area on the presentation slide

6.choose paste from the Edit Menu

7.do the final formatting of color, size etc.

 

Repeat with the solution word processing document.

 

When ready:

1.open the graphic hints drawing

2.choose select all from the Edit Menu

3.choose group from the Modify Menu

4.choose copy from the Edit Menu

5.close the document

6.move to the correct slide in the presentation

7.choose paste from the Edit Menu

8.you may need to resize or move the drawing

 

Repeat with the title page graphic, if they have one.

 

Have them fill the appropriate text on the Call to Solve page. This page might give a hint about how to start or how many steps are needed.

 

10. This is show day(s)! Each Problem Presentation can be shown to the class on the large lab screen as a math assignment. The presentations could be running on the student stations and the students could rotate through.

 

Optional: Presentations are easily turned into web sites. Using the export command under the File Menu they can be converted into web pages. Prepare in advance by showing the students the "public_html" folder that is in their home folder.

 

/export/home/username/public_html

 

You may also want to save the presentation into its own enclosing folder. This will prevent it from getting mixed in with other web projects.

 

That's it.

 

Lesson Resources:

Grade level Math text.

 

Product(s) Description:

StarOffice Impress presentation consisting of 5 slides.

1. Title and credits

2. The Problem

3. Graphic Hint(s)

4. Call to Solve.

5. The Solution.

 

Links:

 1.     Story Problem Website - http://havajava.adams12.org/~studentp/mathstoryproblems/index.html

All the presentations were exported to html forming a website everyone can use.

 

Comments:

This unit worked out really well. We successfully integrated the writing process, math, and technical skills. The graphic aid part was somewhat hampered by StarOffice's limited graphic tools but they made do. Next time I might move the graphics production to the Mac lab.

 

Sandy Bennett: I found that the students needed to write a single step problem in the classroom or lab first. Then they were better prepared to attempt the multi-step problem.

 

 

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Developed under a grant from Sun Microsystems, Inc. Open Gateways at Mountain View

Elementary School by Steve Gandy, Technology Coordinator - mountain.adams12.org/TISS

© 2003