West Long Branch Curriculum Corner
Teaching Critical Thinking Skills
Understanding the Question
This month in Frank Antonides School we are working on understanding what the question is asking by examining numberless word problems. In providing students with numberless word problems, we ask them to consider the following:
“What math do you see in this problem?”
“How do you know?”
“What are some numbers that would work in this situation?”
“What are some numbers that would NOT work in this situation?”
“If we know ____, what else can we figure out now?”
“What new information do you see? How does it change your understanding of the situation?”
“So what question could I ask you about this situation?”
This type of instruction ensures that students employ the type of critical thinking skills they need to solve the most rigorous word problems.