Story Problem? Not Today!
I still remember those days, when I used to sit with my daughter and son
to help them in their studies in their Class 3 &4.
I think irrespective of the generation, in school years, many of the children feel,
Maths is a strange and difficult subject.
So, I used to take Maths on priority, and used to make it fun and easy to understand.
First few days used to be cool and they used to participate.
But soon, I realized that, they doesn't really want to continue.
They used to say,
we have lot to write we will do it later or probably tomorrow.
In the beginning I was thinking,
probably they are busy or lot of other things to do.
But soon,
I realised that, that is not the case.
In fact It appeared to me that they were avoiding something!
I was puzzled.
Then I started wondering, what might be the reason!
Initially, I didn't get any clue.
But next evening,
there was an announcement from the school: test next week.
I got alerted, like any other parent 😄
I thought, let us become serious about maths.
Let me teach those STORY PROBLEMS.
If any of you didn't get by that name 'STORY PROBLEMS',
They are those MATHS PROBLEMS WITH LONG DESCRIPTIONS.
Generally run into minimum of three to four sentences or more some times with a figure along with it.
And in tests and exams they usually fetch anywhere between 3 to 5 marks.
I called my son.
And said lets do the Story Problems today.
First he said, I am planning to study the Maths as the last subject.
I thought that is his planning.
Then I asked him at 8:00 PM,
shall we do the STORY PROBLEMS now?
He said, I am already tired, let us do it tomorrow.
I thought, he might be tired and said ok.
Next day, same thing repeated.
Now I had a serious doubt that, it is not a planning problem.
There was something happening in the background.
Then next evening. I told him, today,
we are going to do maths as the first subject and
we are doing the STORY PROBLEMS, no matter what.
The color of his face changed.
And I can clearly see that, he felt cornered.
He came and sat with me very hesitantly.
We took one of the Story problem from a recent Maths chapter.
And I started reading the problem.
And read the first line,
and asked him did you understand what they are trying to tell here.
He nodded his head.
I continued reading the second line, and the third and finally fourth.
He has already almost fallen down to the ground :-)
I asked what happened,
he said, shall we do it tomorrow.
I said NO.
Somehow I managed to calm my self down after couple of minutes,
and asked him, hey, what is the matter.
Then slowly, he started telling me.
Pappa, I don't like the Story Problem.
I asked Why?
Hesitatingly he said,
It is SO BIG.
and
It is TOO MUCH.
Oh! .
I said. It is OK. We will take it up later and see what we can do,
don't worry.
Then for the next one week , I started noticing him carefully.
I came to know that,
It is not just Maths,
When I sat with him for English/Kannada.
He used to stop reading
when he used to reach answers with 6 to 8 sentences.
That is,
1 line — okay.
2 lines — okay.
3 lines — getting uncomfortable.
4 lines — maximum.
6–8 lines — No way!
And that pattern re appeared in the case of
Science and Social subjects too!
That day I realised some thing.
Ok. Children feel hesitant when the QUANTITY of a question or an answer goes up.
Then, I started wondering:
Had anyone actually shown them
what to do when something feels too big?
Things like:
How you can take a large question and break it into smaller parts?
How you can understand one part at a time?
How you can keep going without getting overwhelmed by the size?
Probably, not!
And that is one of the major reasons, my son was fearful about these Story Problems !
That is,
When something felt too big to him, his first reaction was to avoid it.
From that day onwards I am trying to help my children
to TAKE A BIG PROBLEM and DIVIDE THEM INTO SMALL CHUNKS and UNDERSTAND.
Years later, I noticed something similar,
when my son was in 1st PUC.
For example:
With Physics, I could see the strategy clearly:
Multiple Choice Questions — attempt them.
1-mark questions — attempt them.
2-mark questions — perhaps.
Then STOP.
Why!
Because, The 4- and 5-mark questions looked too big — long derivations with formulas/ large theory explanations, or complex numerical problems.
And I couldn't help wondering whether that old feeling was still there:
“It's too big. I can't do it.”
I think the childhood fear is , probably keeps bothering him again and again.
Perhaps he is still to get the hang of:
"Learning to handle something big
is simply about learning to take it one small piece at a time."
Probably,
little more effort,
little more time and
little more support needed.
How about you?
Does your child face the similar challenge?
Does your child sometimes feel that BIG means BAD?
And when something feels too complex,
do they tend to avoid it, memorise it or simply copy it?