Shannon, M.G. (March 2010). The value of guess and check. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, 15(7), 392-398.
This article had a large main idea of keeping the method of guessing and checking for different problems, specifically story or word problems. By having students use this method in class, they will come up with a better understanding for the answer they find and will also find their "own way for applying this strategy" (as the author puts it). The author points out different steps the student needs to take in order to use guess and check properly. One needs to ask themselves "What information is given? What am I trying to find? and What do I need to know before I do anything else?" These questions help the student build up their own understanding before creating a table to guess and check the closest answer to the problem (or the answer). Besides the students using the steps and the guess and check method, they are also able to apply it to other places besides story problems, and moreover, create an equation for the specific problem. This equation helps the students fully understand what they were just guessing and checking in order to find the correct answer.
Through guess and check the students are able to find the answer through much work. And though it may help them understand the problem itself once they create an equation, I think another method would be more helpful for the students. I do believe the students should have a complete understanding of what the problem is asking for before finding the answer to the word problem (as described in the guess and check method). But by guessing and checking, the student is just trying different answers to see which is "closest." Then, by the end, the student hopefully has an understanding of the method applied to that specific problem. This is where the student now has an equation to use. But by understanding how or why exactly they are getting "closer" to the answer is a better choice than waiting for the students to understand what they are doing at the end. Many students may not even get that far.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I felt that the first paragraph described how to use the guess and check method rather than why the guess and check method should be used.
ReplyDeleteYou had a clear topic sentence in your last paragraph. I agree the process used for guess and check sounds like the process for solving a problem with any method.
I really liked your summery paragraph. I thought you had a strong topic sentence. I thought I had a good understanding of what the article was about. I liked the question and the steps that you added from the text that gave me the idea of what the the author was trying to show.
ReplyDeleteThe first paragraph gave me the basic idea but I felt like you should have focused more on how it helps students to learn better going along with the questions the students should ask themselves. Maybe even how to check and see if they are using the system correctly? In your last paragraph, I'm not so sure the guess and check method wouldn't work. If students are really thinking about the problem and adapting their guesses to fit the problem, isn't that helping them expound on their learning?
ReplyDeleteYou seemed to do a good job of portraying the author's point of view in the first paragraph versus your own. I liked how you put in the questions you are supposed to ask as you guess and check.
ReplyDeleteI felt like you could have had a little bit of a more scholarly tone as you described the article.