Student-generated Problems
Overview
When students create their own number and word problems, they connect math concepts to their background knowledge and lived experiences. As a way to practice Math Communication, student-generated problems, or problem posing, promote creative reflection, sense-making, and application of students' procedural and conceptual knowledge.
Example: Use This Strategy in the Classroom
Watch how this student shares the story problems he created. By explaining his problems and reasoning, he connects the Operations of multiplication and division with two narratives.
Design It into Your Product
Additional Resources
Additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.
Factors Supported by this Strategy
More Active Learning Strategies
Students activate more cognitive processes by exploring and representing their understandings in visual form.
Analyzing incorrect worked examples is especially beneficial for helping students develop a conceptual understanding of mathematical processes.
When students explain their thinking process aloud with guidance in response to questions or prompts, they recognize the strategies they use and solidify their understanding.
Math games allow students to practice many math skills in a fun, applied context.
Project-based learning (PBL) actively engages learners in authentic tasks designed to create products that answer a given question or solve a problem.
Response devices boost engagement by encouraging all students to answer every question.
Analyzing and discussing solved problems helps students develop a deeper understanding of abstract mathematical processes.
