ACTIVE Problem Situations

Explore the summary category of Active problem situations, including grade level content for students in grades 3-5.

• Problem Situation Guide

• Mathematizing Story Map (Active +/- situations)

• Active Addition/Subtraction Problem Situations (Powerpoint slides)

• Active Addition/Subtraction Problem Situations Story (Google slides)

Active problem situations can be acted out: something moves into the situation (Add-To) or is moved out (Take-Out). Students will often pick up counters to represent the starting point of the story’s narrative and then move the counters around to show this action.

Relying on its similarity to the narrative arc of a story, this kind of problem situation is usually well-understood.

Students may be challenged when the Active problem situation narrative is turned around. Sometimes this means that the beginning of the story isn’t known (Start Unknown) or the action in the middle of the story may be unknown (Change Unknown).

The Mathematizing Story Map holds counters in place while students reason about and fill in the blanks of the story. These problem types can be called Active (or Action) problem types.