Heuristics Approach To Solving Primary Maths Word Problems

The UK maths guru Gareth Metcalf encourages students to use a range of tools to understand and then solve maths word problems. There is an order of tools to be considered when tackling any type of word problem. Teaching this helps the student to gain confidence in tackling any type of problem. First we see if the problem can be represented by a model or a diagram. Other tools include looking for patterns, substitution providing certain criteria appear in the question, working backwords, restating the problem, solving part of the problem, etc.