I love teaching elementary school kids to solve Math problems, especially complex word problems. The key to solving complex Math problems is to break them down into simpler sections and then solving them step by step. A very powerful tool you can use is called the Heuristic Method. This method is actually a series of strategies that covers practically all types of elementary school Math problems. Heuristic means investigative or exploratory. The Heuristic Method comprises various strategies such as: Look for a Pattern Draw it out Make a Chart or Table Guess and Check Work Backwards Draw Models Let’s look at 3 examples of Math problem sums which can be solved using the guess and check method. These 3 questions can be solved by 10- to 12-year-olds. First example: John bought some mint sweets and some chocolates. Each mint sweet costs 30 cents and each chocolate costs 50 cents. He paid $3.60 for a total of 10 sweets and chocolates. How many chocolates did John buy? Thinking: This question is unusual because we do not know the individual number of sweets and the individual number of chocolates. We only know the total number of both sweets and chocolates. So [...]
