Math Conversations at Home – ask “how many ways”

April 2, 2020

In the last post I gave an overview of ideas to help have productive and joyful math conversations at home. Now let’s drill down on one of those ideas.

The concept is simple. At some point today, when you and your child are working on math together, don’t ask “what’s the answer.” Ask, “how many ways can we find the answer?”

Ask “how many ways can we find the answer?”

And then you play the game of actually finding as many ways to solve a problem as you can.

Why does this help? Because math that’s about getting the answer one way and then stopping leads to fragile understanding. But when we have many tools and strategies at our disposal, and start to find connections between them, our understanding becomes robust.

Check out the video below to see this idea in action, and then try out the challenge at home!

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Karen Campe
3 years ago

This is 2 minutes of gold! Thank you for your succinct and excellent advice!

hapynluvnllif
hapynluvnllif
3 years ago

THANKS so much for being you and keeping us going through all this craziness right now!!!

Polly Wagner
Polly Wagner
3 years ago

Love this video Dan! Thanks!

Leticia Salamanca
Leticia Salamanca
3 years ago

Good video!! thank you

Leticia Salamanca
Leticia Salamanca
3 years ago

Good video. Thank you!

Miranda Garcia
Miranda Garcia
3 years ago

This is great!

Teresa Madrigal
Teresa Madrigal
3 years ago

Thank you, excellent information

Bethann
Bethann
3 years ago

My child has severe autism. All questions need to be very concrete multiple was of doing things are confusing and cause great frustration

Jennifer Yusi
Jennifer Yusi
3 years ago

This is a great way to think outside the box for the answer! Great info!

Carrie Johnson
Carrie Johnson
3 years ago

Great ideas and different ways to use math.

Carrie Johnson
Carrie Johnson
3 years ago

Math for love

Carrie Johnson
Carrie Johnson
3 years ago

What a great way to look at math.

Maricela Quintanilla
Maricela Quintanilla
3 years ago

Great concept for children to learn differently

Julie
Julie
3 years ago

I love new ideas

Leticia Nunez
Leticia Nunez
3 years ago

Very interesting way to let each child find their own way and know that there is no wrong way.

Sue T
Sue T
3 years ago

I surely never thought of it that way. You can use this idea in many other activities not just math

Berenice Aceves
Berenice Aceves
3 years ago

I love all the different approaches to get the correct answer, there are different ways kids or adults can think outside the box. Excellent video!

Amy Ortiz
Amy Ortiz
3 years ago

This shows so many great ways to think outside the box.

guest
guest
3 years ago

A way to try and make math ‘less scary,’ allowing students to choose the way they learn best, not how the book wants them to learn.

Karrie Kyle Huberty
Karrie Kyle Huberty
3 years ago

Very helpful!

Karrie Kyle Huberty
Karrie Kyle Huberty
3 years ago

Very interesting!

Mandy A
Mandy A
3 years ago

I find that as an adult I am learning more strategies to do math with the students. I wish they did this when I was in school.

Luis Carmona
Luis Carmona
3 years ago

Some of these ideas I try to use because they are great but they only seem work with 3rd and up, however; if the students don’t have a strong base on addiction and subtraction it is near impossible for them to learn more than one way. It is a great video nonetheless.

Kristen Golembeck
Kristen Golembeck
3 years ago

I would not think of doing it this way. I always tried to get math over with and get to the answer the fastest. I can see where this would be useful.

Lara Lenertz
Lara Lenertz
3 years ago

I love asking student how many different way they can find an answer, and then we compare. It challenges them to see if they can beet me.

Loretta O'Brien
Loretta O'Brien
3 years ago

Interesting ideas. We know that as time and curriculum change, the way Math is taught/learned changes and there is opportunity to teach students different ways to get to an answer. Some students are great at knowing the answer right away but struggle to show the steps in between. We can help them see the different ways tou can figure out the “steps between the question and the answer”

Sharon McCarney
Sharon McCarney
3 years ago

This is something I can definitely use for the older kids! Thanks!

Isabell Acosta
Isabell Acosta
3 years ago

Great information! It is important for the students to learn and share many different strategies to solve problems.

Barb Stevens
Barb Stevens
3 years ago

Interesting concept. I plan to use

Ana Munoz
Ana Munoz
3 years ago

Good Video, I have seeing this method with my students in ED. They use different methods to come to the same answer in any way, math or just any daily life skills.

Michelle Walker
Michelle Walker
3 years ago

I love when kids are given the ability to think of things in different ways! Thinking outside the box will certainly be beneficial to them later in life for problem solving!

Siew-Kim Yong
Siew-Kim Yong
3 years ago

I like this. Absolutely. we want to build a robust understanding of Math and its foundation.

Siew-Kim Yong
Siew-Kim Yong
3 years ago

Absolutely, I could not agree more.

Ann SImpson
Ann SImpson
3 years ago

I wish this way of thinking and teaching had been around when I was in school. It actually makes sense!

Tamela Small
Tamela Small
3 years ago

Wish I would have known this while being taught Math in middle school, who knows, I might have loved math, instead of hating it! Thank you
Tammy S.

Natascha
Natascha
3 years ago

I can see how this will benefit students in solidifying their understanding of math problems, but with that said there are the students (autism students) that need the one straight forward technique of solving the problem to be successful.

Caroline Mollohan
Caroline Mollohan
3 years ago

Good video

Jen
Jen
3 years ago

This video is a great reminder that everyone looks at problems differently and we need to remember to do that with our kids we teach. That if they don’t understand how to do it to think outside the box and try a different ways until they do understand.

Jennifer
Jennifer
3 years ago

Love this idea!

diana Ayala
diana Ayala
3 years ago

Great short video with great advice on the different ways we can get our answers!!

Maria Medellin
Maria Medellin
3 years ago

This is great information to have, thank you

Angela Vollrath
Angela Vollrath
3 years ago

So simple yet so powerful.

Nicole Bunkofske
Nicole Bunkofske
3 years ago

Great Video! Thank you!

Tamara Kanhai
Tamara Kanhai
3 years ago

Great video! I think initially when asking students to come up with different ways of solving a problem it can be very daunting for many. Once you explore together you realize how we all see things differently and come up with ideas that someone else might not see. Some of the examples were so simple but not forms of the problem that my mind jumped to on its own!

Rachel
Rachel
3 years ago

Your site is absolutely incredible and I have been using it constantly with my summer math class. My students are really activated. Thank you!!!! Also, I know there’s been a lot of discussion/disagreement about teachers referring to multiplication as repeated addition. Many of my students come into may class (5th grade) with that misunderstanding. What is your best explanation to kids (and teachers) as to why referring to multiplication as repeated addition is a no-no?

Sheri Hurn
Sheri Hurn
3 years ago

Thank you Dan, another fabulous idea without needing any resources. Great to open up the conversations in the home and extending the love of learning and working mathematically with parents. (for their children)