When In Doubt, Think/Talk/Draw It Out Part 2

Yesterday our post focused on math strategies that are introduced in the primary grades and carried over to support the skills taught in the upper grades.  Today we are going to extend this to a strategy for problem solving introduced in second grade and then used in many different ways as problems become more complex in the upper grades.  It’s called “bar modeling,” and it’s a way for students to make pictorial representations of math problems to put what they are visualizing in their minds onto paper.  This helps them make sense of information they are presented with in a problem so they can then develop a plan for solving. 

“Introduction to Bar Models - A Math Problem Solving Method” is a little over 8 minutes, but well worth the time to get a glimpse of how this type of modeling helps students make sense of problems and how to solve them.  The visuals are helpful, and the narrator delivers the basic idea of the bar model in a concise way. 

If you are working with your child on math, you might see him/her using this strategy.  If s/he struggles with drawing the model or with spacial relationships, it might be helpful to use graph paper to help with drawing straight lines and making equal bars.  Sometimes kids look at problems and don’t know where to start.  Remind them they don’t have to have a plan for solving in order to draw the bar model; they can just focus on the information they have and draw it out.  Seeing the picture will help them see how to approach solving.  Finally, one can never over-label...label EVERYTHING.  This will help them when they have to go back and explain their answer in a sentence.  Bar modeling will be a strategy you child uses all the way through fifth grade.  We hope this helps!

Example of how bar modeling can be used for more sophisticated problems in the older grades.