Lynda R. Wiest, wiest@unr.edu, is an associate profes-
sor of education at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her professional interests include mathematics education, educational equity, and teacher education. By Lynda R. Wiest A ccording to the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language Instruction Educational Programs, the grow- ing number of students with limited English pro- ciency includes slightly more than 10 percent of K12 students in todays U.S. classrooms (NCELA Problem-Solving Support for English Language Learners Copyright 2008 The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc. www.nctm.org. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed electronically or in any other format without written permission from NCTM. 480 Teaching Children Mathematics / April 2008 Readers are encouraged to identify key instructional approaches from the following categories, each of which is discussed after the classroom lesson: problem-solving approach collaboration and communication constructivist orientation student background knowledge visual aids hands-on materials language support classroom climate Lesson background Mrs. Higgins has just given each student a modi- ed activity sheet for the Chickens and Pigs word problem that uses the names of a boy and girl in the class. The upper corners of the page show drawings of a chicken and a pig (see g. 1). Teaching episode Mrs. Higgins asks a volunteer to read the Chickens and Pigs problem aloud. She then asks the class to read the problem again silently and think about the story line. Now, in your groups of four, Mrs. Hig- gins says, discuss what the problem is about and what it asks you to do. Be sure everyone in your group understands. Do not talk about how to solve the problem or try to solve it yet. Mrs. Higgins walks around the room as students discuss what the problem is about, with some pairs occasionally reverting to Spanish. After students have had adequate discussion time, Mrs. Higgins asks if someone can explain what the problem is about. Students offer a range of explana- tions, such as, We have to gure out if Brandon and Vanessa are correct about how many chickens and pigs there are and Its about multiplication. Without interjecting, Mrs. Higgins allows students to respond to one another, agree or disagree, explain similar ideas in different words, or extend others thinking. She then poses questions to help the class focus on key aspects of the problem: I am going to ask a few questions about the problem to be sure we all agree on some facts before we try to solve the problem. Mrs. Higgins poses the following ques- tions and allows the class to discuss and agree on each answer before asking the next: What is a barn? [Mrs. Higgins writes the word barn on the board and points to the barn on a barnyard-scene poster that she placed on the wall before the lesson.] The Chickens and Pigs problem Brandon and Vanessa went to their grandfathers barn. When they got back to the house, their mom asked what they had seen. Brandon said they saw some chickens and pigs. Vanessa agreed and said that she had counted 18 animals. Brandon hadnt noticed that, but he had counted 52 legs. If Brandon and Vanessa are correct, how many chickens and pigs were there? Try This! Find the number of chickens and pigs representing a combined total of A. 68 feet, 26 heads B. 200 legs, 70 heads Figure 1 2006). English language learners (ELLs) may need special support to meet the educational standards we set for students. In its Equity Principle, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics states, Some students may need further assistance to meet high mathematics expectations. Students who are not native speakers of English, for instance, may need special attention to allow them to participate fully in classroom discussions (NCTM 2000, p. 12). This need has become particularly important because mathematics tasks are increasingly contextualized and thus verbal in nature, in addition to the fact that greater emphasis has been placed on communica- tion in mathematics classrooms. Chickens and Pigs Problem Problem solving, one of the NCTMs ve Process Standards (NCTM 2000), is at the heart of good mathematics instruction for all content topics. This manuscript presents a lesson built on an author- adapted version of the classic Chickens and Pigs word problem. Heidi Higgins taught the lesson to a fourth-grade class, one-half of which was mostly Spanish-speaking ELLs. Students desks were arranged in groups of four with students grouped heterogeneously by linguistic background, race or ethnicity, gender, and academic ability. When pos- sible, each lower-prociency ELL was placed in a group with a more advanced ELL, who spoke the same language, and two native English speakers. Mrs. Higgins demonstrates effective teaching methods for facilitating problem solving in a way that reaches a range of learners, including ELLs. Teaching Children Mathematics / April 2008 481 How many animals did Brandon and Vanessa see in their grandfathers barn? What kind of animals were they? What is a chicken? [Mrs. Higgins writes chicken on the board and points to the picture of the chicken on a transparency of the student activ- ity sheet displayed on the overhead projector.] Does anyone know the word for this animal in another language that you speak? [Students enthusiastically offer Spanish and Pakistani words.] How many legs [pointing to her own legs] does a chicken normally have? What is a pig? [Mrs. Higgins follows through in the same manner as she did with chicken.] What does the problem ask you to do? Mrs. Higgins recaps key details, including what stu- dents have determined they need to nd to answer the problem. She has students discuss the problem in their small groups to decide how they might try to solve it. She tells them to talk about several ideas before choosing one that they may then implement as a group or in pairs. Many students initially sug- gest inappropriate algorithms such as one-step mul- tiplication or division and tend to ignore the critical problem details before gradually moving to other problem-solving strategies. Mrs. Higgins walks among the students as they work. Besides listening to their thinking and answering questions (often with another question), she poses questions that encourage students to explain, justify, and extend their thinking. As students work, Mrs. Higgins asks, Can you explain what youre doing? Does it seem to be working? Why (or why not)? She allows sufcient time for students to think about and answer her questions. When members in a pair or group agree that their answer is correct, Mrs. Higgins makes sure the nal answer has been written in a full sentence, such as, There were ten chickens and eight pigs in the barn. She then challenges the group with one or more of the following, at times waiting for a response and at other times moving to another group: Explain why you think your answer is correct. Reread the problem. Tell why you think your answer makes sense. See if you can solve the problem a different way. Can this problem have more than one answer? Have you ever seen a problem similar to this one? If so, what was it? How are the problems alike? How are they different? Mrs. Higgins asks some groups to proceed to the problem extensions (Try This!) at the bottom of the activity sheet. When she feels all groups are rea- sonably procient with the initial problem, she calls the class together. She asks for one or a pair of vol- unteers from each group to go to the board or over- head projector and use drawings to explain their solution strategy for the original problem. (Solution methods at this age level will likely be guess-and- check methods that include computation, drawings, tables, or some combination of these. If manipula- tive materials are available, students may use them as well, as in representing animals with circular counters and toothpicks.) A student pair shows how they started with two numbers whose sum was eighteen animals (seven chickens plus eleven pigs). They write 7 2 and 11 4 on the board to show how they rst arrived at a sum of fty-six legs. They next remove one pig to get fty-two legs, but now they have only sev- enteen animals. After two more guess-and-check attempts, they nd what they believe to be a correct answer of ten chickens and eight pigs. After the pair nishes, Mrs. Higgins asks their classmates what they think about the students work. Classmates agree that the method and answer are acceptable. Some comment that they used a similar method. Mrs. Higgins asks if any group solved the problem a different way. Another pair of students goes to the board to show how their group used a draw-a-picture strategy. They draw physical representations of animals with numeric lists of the corresponding number of legs (see g. 2), making corrections until they arrive at an answer that satis- es the problem conditions. A nal pair of students, claiming yet a different solution, draws eighteen circles on the board to represent eighteen animals. Next, they draw vertical lines on the bottom of each to repre- sent legs and adjust them until they arrive at fty-two legs arranged in pairs or fours. Class- mates again comment on these approaches. While wrapping up the session, Mrs. Higgins suggests students might want to see if a 482 Teaching Children Mathematics / April 2008 family member at home can solve the problem the students solved today. She informs them they will solve a similar problem tomorrowabout bicycles and tricycles (see g. 3)and they will write a prob- lem of their own for others to solve. Teaching note Use of the guess-and-check method with a record- keeping chart for this problem can be viewed at home. avvanta.com/~math/guess.html. A good discussion of language, background knowledge, and assessment issues in relation to this problem may be found at www.nwrel.org/assessment/toolkit98/Act3-7.html. Instructional Support Strategies for ELLs Increased emphasis on problem solving and con- textualized learning in mathematics education gives English language learners greater verbal challenges than their native-speaking classmates. The following discussions highlight some major aspects of the Chickens and Pigs lesson that reect good teaching for all learners, with particular importance for ELLs. Problem-solving approach Good mathematics teaching uses an investigative approach to all mathematics topics. Harniss and others note, Content for diverse learners cannot be watered down or second rate. Rather, the goal is to devise curriculum and instruction techniques so that these students can think, solve problems, and rea- son (2002, p. 123). Note that Mrs. Higgins explores a single problem in great depth and breadth, an approach that is much preferred over solving numer- ous problems with greater haste and superciality. Understanding a problem before solving it is critically important. Mrs. Higgins spends much time facilitating initial understanding of the Chickens and Pigs problem and continues to expect students to demonstrate conceptual understanding throughout the problem-solving process. She also encourages students to nd more than one solution plan for solv- ing the problem and has them share their methods with one another to build exible thinking, allow students to choose personally comprehensible strate- gies, validate differing approaches to mathematics, and foster the belief that mathematics is a human activity to which students have access. Having students write their own problem (see g. 3, Try This!) employs written communication skills and encourages thinking at a higher level, one where students produceinstead of consumerelevant material and, moreover, evaluate peers work. It is useful to have students, particularly ELLs, engage and remain immersed in a single context during a problem-solving session or several succes- sive sessions. This way, students can acquire appro- priate background knowledge about the context (barnyard concepts in the case of the Chickens and Pigs problem) and solve numerous problems and problem extensions based on the same foundational ideas without having to reorient their thinking or gain new background information for each new problem. Mrs. Higginss students engage a single context to explore the Chickens and Pigs problem A pair of students showed their groups draw-a-picture strategy with physical representations of animals and numeric lists of the corresponding number of legs. Figure 2 The Bicycles and Tricycles problem Yolanda and Juans parents bought a bicycle store. The storage room had parts for making bicycles and tricycles. Juan counted 17 bicycle frames on one side of the room, and Yolanda counted 43 wheels on the other. Their mother said she would put all the wheels on all the frames. How many bicycles and how many tricycles will that make? Try This! Work with your assigned partner within your group of four to write a word problem similar to the Chickens and Pigs problem and the Bicycles and Tricycles problem. Be sure you know the correct answer. Exchange your problem with your assigned pair from another group. Solve one anothers problems, and then give your solved problem back to the authors to look over and tell you how you did. Figure 3 Teaching Children Mathematics / April 2008 483 fully in one class session. Although the Bicycles and Tricycles problem uses a new story line, it follows nicely by allowing students to practice the same mathematical idea in a new contextin other words, to work toward the all-important goal of transferring their knowledge to a new setting. Collaboration and communication The Chickens and Pigs problem-solving lesson engages students in collaborations that occur as a class, in groups of four, and in pairs. Collaborative work encourages greater student participation and ownership of learning as well as skill development in communication and building relationships. It allows students to ask questions and make mistakes in a safe setting and to get frequent, immediate feedback on their thinking. Peer communication is important for all students, especially ELLs, to develop language skills and foster understanding of a topic. Addressing the instructional needs of ELLs in mathematics, Anstrom notes, Students need ample opportunities to hear math language and to speak and write mathematically (1999, p. 5). Such opportunities are best presented during authentic discourse over a common, engaging task. In the lesson, student groups of four are mixed heterogeneously according to several student char- acteristics. It is best to place ELLs in pairs within groupsespecially when each pair includes a more- and a less-procient English speakerinstead of distributing them one to a group. Providing learners whose rst language is not English with social and language support is important, as is interaction with peers who are more linguistically procient in the language of instruction, especially those who are slightly more advanced (Daz-Rico and Weed 2002). Constructivist orientation A dominant belief about learning mathematics today is constructivism, the idea that people learn by actively building knowledge through dialoguing and reecting on concepts. Mrs. Higginss lesson is constructivist because its student-centered orienta- tion requires a great deal of student explanation, justication, and extension of thinking. It includes a variety of question types for students to consider, and students are responsible for conrming or dis- proving classmates work. Student background knowledge Before proceeding with mathematical tasks, ensur- ing that all students understand the context of the mathematics is important. Helping students come closer to a common starting point is Mrs. Hig- ginss goal when she initially taps into and builds essential knowledge of the barnyard scenario. A common backdrop from which to pursue math- ematical tasks can also be established by reading an appropriate childrens book to the class or by engaging students in a common experience before presenting activities based on these contexts. This is particularly important for ELLs, but it is also useful for all students because of the wide variety of their background experiences. (As a local example, when a graduate student recently conducted the Chickens and Pigs problem with two separate classes, he found that a fteen-year-old i n each class initially approached the problem with the mistaken belief that chickens had four legs.) Visual aids Mrs. Hi ggi nss act ivi t y sheets include pictures of key elements discussed in the word prob- lems. Visually appealing to students, the pictures also serve an important function for ELLs (and sometimes other students) by helping them build understanding of problems before attempting to solve them. Mrs. Hig- gins also points to each picture or posterand in one case, to her legsas she says associated words so that students can link words with their visual representations. Hands-on materials Although no students in the classroom lesson described here chose to use hands-on materi- als to solve the Chickens and Pigs problem, use of this option allows students to explore math- ematical thinking with the aid of concrete models. Manipulatives can be helpful to all students and especially to ELLs by minimizing and supporting a tasks language requirements. Just as visual aids are important, manipulatives expand the range of senses students use to process concepts. Language support ELLs, as well as other students, benet from teach- ing methods that help develop language skills. Mrs. Higgins uses several techniques to serve this pur- pose. Students engage in a great deal of discussion in a variety of settings with peers and the teacher. 484 Teaching Children Mathematics / April 2008 They also have an opportunity to exercise their language arts skills with peer assistance by writing answers with supporting explanations for problems and composing their own word problems. Students are allowed to speak in their rst lan- guage for a few minutes now and then as they seek to understand concepts in that language before doing so in English. Vocabulary development is encouraged by associating visual aids with Eng- lish words. To strengthen vocabulary connections, Mrs. Higgins asks students at one point if they know two key words (chicken, pig) in another lan- guage. Vocabulary building includes constructing meanings for everyday and mathematics terminol- ogy, as well as multiple word meanings, of such words as quarter or table. Moschkovich cautions that language should be considered broader than vocabulary alone and that instruction should also focus on how students generalize, abstract, and describe patterns, rather than only on how students use individual words (2007, p. 98). She advises teachers to focus on the resources that ELLs bring to the mathematics classroom, including use of various modes of communication (e.g., gestures, objects, and rst language) in addition to math- ematical thinking. Classroom climate Mrs. Higginss classroom has numerous features conducive to creating a positive classroom cli- mate, which is vitally important for the academic and emotional well-being of all students. This is, of course, of particular concern for ELLs, whose cultural and linguistic backgrounds may not match that of the majority of students or the teachers instructional style. Mrs. Higgins facilitates a com- munal, student-centered environment in which students work together and are responsible for assessing and defending their own work and that of their peers. She solicits, and thus values, different ways of thinking. Students in Mrs. Higginss classroom spend much time interacting, and ELLs are placed in pairs within groups so they are not isolated. Work- ing in small groups allows students to test their ideas in safe settings, building their condence to speak later in whole-class settings. Students are also permitted to go to the board in pairs, which raises students comfort levels with sharing ideas publicly. Mrs. Higgins uses several techniques to acknowledge and validate students, such as personalizing word problems with student names (with attention to gender balance), allowing students to speak their rst language as needed, and asking the class to provide some key words in other languages. Brain-based research indi- cates that emotions, such as feelings of respect and acceptance, are vitally important to memory (Daz-Rico and Weed 2002). Conclusion Although word problems pose greater language demands, they also encourage more meaningful problem solving and mathematics understand- ing. With proper instructional support, a student- centered, investigative approach to contextualized problem solving benets all students. The type of support discussed in this article demonstrates such an approach, which is particularly important for better serving the English language learners in our classrooms. References Anstrom, Kris. Preparing Secondary Education Teach- ers to Work with English Language Learners: Math- ematics. Washington, DC: The George Washington University Center for the Study of Language and Education, 1999. (ERIC Document Reproduction No. ED439618.) Daz-Rico, Lynne T., and Kathryn Z. Weed. The Cross- cultural, Language, and Academic Development Handbook: A Complete K12 Reference Guide. Bos- ton: Allyn and Bacon, 2002. Harniss, Mark K., Douglas W. Carnine, Jerry Silbert, and Robert C. Dixon. Effective Strategies for Teaching Mathematics. In Effective Strategies That Accom- modate Diverse Learners, 2nd ed., edited by Edward J. Kameenui, Douglas W. Carnine, Robert C. Dixon, Deborah C. Simmons, and Michael D. Coyne, pp. 12148. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2002. Moschkovich, Judit. Bilingual Mathematics Learners: How Views of Language, Bilingual Learners, and Mathematical Communication Affect Instruction. In Improving Access to Mathematics: Diversity and Eq- uity in the Classroom, edited by Nailah Suad Nasir and Paul Cobb. New York: Teachers College Press, 2007. National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisi- tion and Language Instruction Educational Programs (NCELA). The Growing Numbers of Limited English Procient Students, 19942005. Washington, DC: NCELA, 2006. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). Principles and Standards for School Mathematics. Reston, VA: NCTM, 2000. The author would like to thank Heidi J. Higgins for teaching this lesson and Carol Ann Kahler for allow- ing the lesson to take place in her classroom. s