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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page paper that reviews this article by Pamela J. Wells and David C. Coffey. The article focuses on how children may provide the correct answer but to the wrong question. Reflection and discussion can determine how the student interpreted the question. Bibliography lists 1 source.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: MM12_PGwngqs.RTF
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
this article is how to improve mathematical ability by drawing students into discussions about their responses to mathematical problems. The title of the article clearly explains the precept: students "wrong
answers" may be correct answers to different problems. This can be determined by discussing with students how they arrived at their responses. The target audience for this article is primarily
elementary teachers but the same concepts discussed would be appropriate for middle- and secondary-school teachers. The examples included in the article come from First Grade, Second Grade, and students in
teacher-preparation programs. The first-grade example focuses on the adjectives shorter and longer. Students were told the Queens bed was 6 feet long and the princess bed was 2 feet shorter
so how long was the princess bed? Some children said it was 8 feet long. The math is correct if the question said the bed was 2 feet longer than
the queens. Thus, the children had the right answer for a different question. In the second-grade example, children were to study a "bag full of base-10 materials" (Wells and Coffey,
2005, p. 204). The teacher asked for observations and one child said: "there are 240 squares on the big block" (Wells and Coffey, 2005, p. 204). The answer is correct
but to a different question than the teacher had in mind; the boy was counting the surface area rather than the cubes. The question asked in a math class in
teacher preparation programs has to do with sharing two candy bars equally among five persons. There are multiple correct answers depending on how the students approach the question: "4/20, 2/10,
1/5, 4/10 and 2/10 + 2/10" (Wells and Coffey, 2005, p. 204). The issue can be clarified by using two sentences: "Each child gets __ of a whole candy bar
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