Strategies for Problem Solving

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Strategies for Problem Solving

• 5th Grade
• Mrs. Geist

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What are Strategies?

• Strategies are tools or things you can do to help
  you find the answer to a problem.
• Just as construction workers use many tools to
  help them complete the building of a house, many
  students use a combination of strategies to solve
  a math problem.

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Strategy 1 Draw a Picture

• Sometimes just drawing a picture of what the
  problem is about can help you find the answer.
• Draw a picture to go with this problem.
• The students had 3 worksheets a piece. The
  teacher handed out 2 more to each student. How
  many worksheets does each student have all
  together?

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Strategy 2 Look for a Pattern

• Looking for a pattern within a problem can be
  helpful in trying to solve it.
• Look for a pattern in the following. Solve for
  the next three places.
• 2 , 7 , 12 , 17 , 22 , ___ , ___ , ___
• Are these flowers presented in a pattern?

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Strategy 3 Make a Chart or Table

• Organizing the information given in a problem can
  help you to understand what you need to do to get
  an answer.
• A good way to organize information or data is to
  put it into a chart or table.

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Try it!

• Read the problem below. Put the information into
  a chart. Use your organized data to solve the
  problem.
• Sara studies every day of the week except for
  Friday and Saturday. If she studies 2 hours on
  Monday and Wednesday, 1 hour on Tuesday and
  Thursday, and 3 hours every Sunday, how many
  hours of study time does she have at the end of 4
  weeks?

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Strategy 4 Guess and Check

• Sometimes the only way to get an answer to a
  problem is to simply take some good guesses at
  possible answers and then check to see if any of
  them are correct.
• Use the Guess and Check strategy to solve the
  following
• Use the least amount and then the most number of
  coins to make 75 cents. You may not use quarters
  or pennies.

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Strategy 5 Work Backwards

• Working backwards in a problem can be a really
  good way to find the answer.
• Look at the equation below. Work backwards to
  solve for N.
• N 368 4912

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Strategy 6 Make an Organized List

• Another tool to help solve a problem is an
  organized list of the information given.
• Make an organized list for the problem below.
  Use your list to solve the problem.
• Jenas birthday party was at the movies. Each
  child was given a choice of a soda and a snack.
  They could have a Sprite or a Pepsi for a drink
  and popcorn, nachos, or candy for a snack. How
  many different snack/candy combinations are
  possible?

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What Else?

• Here are some other strategies for problem
  solving. Think about each one. Have you ever
  used any of these?
• Solve Another Problem
• Use Logical Reasoning
• Act it Out

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Lets Review!

• Arriving at answers to math problems is easier
  when you use strategies.
• Strategies are tools that help you to find an
  answer. Sometimes you can use more than one
  strategy at a time.

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Some Problem Solving Strategies Are

• Draw a Picture
• Look for a Pattern
• Make a Chart or Table
• Guess and Check
• Work Backwards
• Make an Organized List
• Solve Another Problem
• Use Logical Reasoning
• Act it Out

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Next time you are presented with a math problem

• Solve it using one or more STRATEGIES!