Making Sense of Problems
Make sense of a problem by identifying what is being asked, choosing concrete objects or pictures to represent the situation, and explaining a pathway to the solution
Typical age: 5–6 years
“When your child gets a maths problem they don't immediately know how to solve, do they stop and think about what the question is asking — maybe drawing a picture — before diving in?”
0 / 3 mastered
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Needs first
- Checking Your Own Work
Checking whether a maths answer makes sense applies the universal self-checking habit to a mathematical context
- How Many in Total?
Problem sense-making at 5-6 requires cardinality understanding to make sense of 'how many' problems
- Listening to Texts Read Aloud
Making sense of word problems requires listening comprehension skills
- Addition as combining or putting together two
Making sense of addition problems requires understanding addition as combining
- Persisting When It's Hard
Mathematical perseverance with problems is the domain-specific application of the universal persistence habit
Unlocks next
- Guided Multi-Step Problem SolvingREQUIRED
Age 6-7 problem-solving builds directly on age 5-6 problem-sense-making
- Growth Mindset
Growth mindset understanding (SEL) is grounded in the concrete experience of persevering through mathematical problems — the abstract principle is made real through mathematics