Word Problems got you down? Well, Poyla is here to save the day!

Word problems for lots of students can be frustrating and hard to understand. Some word problems have lots of information that is being thrown at you and you want to know what you actually need to use to solve it and what formulas and steps you need to take to get the answer without too much crying. George Poyla helped shed some bright and amazing light on this terrible dilemma with his effective four-step formula.

Step 1: Understanding the problem:
Givens: (What do you know in the problem?)
Goal: (What are you trying to find in the problem?)
Conjecture: Prediction (This should be numerical and in words. Give an estimate you know is too low and an estimate that you know is too high.)

After you first read the word problem you go back to the word problem and highlight and write down the answers to all of those questions to get you started.

Step 2: Devise a Plan:
Strategy: Toolbox (You can choose from the ones listed or write in your own.)
- Draw model/visual
- Make use of structure
- Look for repeated reasoning
- Create an equation/expression
- Guess & check
- Work backward
-  Formula

This is just a short list of many strategies that you could work with and this is where students can feel the most comfortable because they can choose and use multiple strategies to figure out the problem.

Step 3: Carry out the plan: 
Solution: (show all work, label, be precise)
Final answer (written in a complete sentence with units)

I really like the final answer being written in a complete sentence because that gives you time to look back at the original problem and make sure you did everything correctly.

Step 4: Looking Back: 
Verification- Check that your answer is mathematically correct. Is your answer reasonable? (This should be written in words and mathematically calculated.)

Looking back can give you the extra emphasis you need to feel confident and truly make sure that everything makes sense and it completes the original problem and answers what it precisely asked.

I would definitely use this in my future classroom because it gives the foundation and the exact format you need to solve an easy and a hard word problem!!

Helpful Link: http://www.mathgametime.com/subject/problem-solving
(This link is here for students to practice problem-solving with fun games and videos and worksheets for grades K-7.)

Here is the Polya formula used in action! (Link to the example on this website: http://www.wtamu.edu/academic/anns/mps/math/mathlab/int_algebra/int_alg_tut8_probsol.htm)

A math class has 30 students.  Approximately 70% passed their last math test.  How many students passed the last math test?

 

Step 1: Understand the problem.

 

Make sure that you read the question carefully several times.  We are looking for how many students passed the last math test,  we will let x = number of students

 

Step 2:  Devise a plan (translate).

 

 

Step 3:  Carry out the plan (solve).

 

*Multiply

 

Step 4:  Look back (check and interpret).

 

21 is 70% of 30.   FINAL ANSWER: 21 students passed the last math test.