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Writing Story Problems:

Or, If They Can Write ‘Em, They can READ (and Solve!) ‘Em!

It takes Mr. Garcia ¾ hour to go to work and it takes Ms. Wang 10 minutes to go to work. Find a ratio comparing Ms. Wang’s time to Mr. Garcia’s time.

How would you go about solving this problem?

A train travels from Newark to Trenton, a distance of 48.1 miles, in 30 minutes. At what average speed, in miles per hour, does the train travel?

How about this one?

Write an equation to solve this problem:

A rectangular public garden measuring x-ft by y-ft has a sidewalk surrounding the lawn. The sidewalk is 6 ft. wide. What is the area of the lawn?What do you notice about

the language in this story problem?

The Richardsons bought a new car. The total amount they paid was $14,064.75, including the 5% sales tax. What was the price before the sales tax was added?

How about this one?

Suppose John bought a new car 36 years ago for $4,000. It lost 10% of its value each year for the first 15 years. Then its value stayed the same for 5 years. When it was 20 years old, the car became a collector’s item and its value increased 23% each year. Find the value of the car now.

And this one?

Imagine that you are a student who speaks English as a second or third language, or a student who has struggled with reading. What challenges do you see in these problems for these students?

In many cases students can actually do the math but they can’t comprehend the story problem.

That is when practicing writing story problems can help students to gain familiarity with the language of story problems, and so give them an insight into how to read them to solve them.

Because… If you can WRITE something, you can certainly READ it.

2 + 3(v + 4) = 5

Here’s an equation. Let’s try to write a story problem for it.

What did you notice about your writing process?

How could you use this exercise to teach students to solve story problems by writing them?