Lesson 2: What Does The Mathematician's Plan Look Like in Practice

Return to: Unit 1: What is the Mathematician's Plan?

Return to: Mini-course: The Mathematician's Plan: Promoting Thinking In Math

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to identify the parts of the Mathematician's Plan evident in an example as well as create their own exemplar.

Do Now

Before we begin please take the time to answer the following questions.

1. What is the first step of the Mathematician's Plan?
2. What is the second step of the Mathematician's Plan?
3. What is the final step of the Mathematician's Plan?
4. What is one reason to implement the Mathematician's Plan in your classroom?

Mini-Lecture

The Mathematician's Plan encourages students to practice metacognitive skills which is important due to the "high demand on students' metacognitive abilities" that problem solving puts on students (Krawec, 2013).

Exemplar Mathematician's Plan

To the right you will see an exemplar of the Mathematician's Plan. Each step is identified by a specific color. Let's dive in!

Step 1: This step, which as you recall is about interpreting the question, is colored in blue. The student annotated the text to show evidence of reading the question. Additionally, the student wrote down their plan to solve by identifying the steps they will take to solve.

Step 2: In pink, this step is when the student uses their plan to solve. The student kept their workspace organized by numbering their steps which correlate with their plan. The student also labeled their work in a way that made sense to them. Students can abbreviate words and write short hand as long as they show evidence of labeling.

Step 3: Students should take the time to reread the question and be sure they followed their entire plan. In green the final step is highlighted. This question required the student to think in real world contexts to interpret a remainder. The student identified the mathematical answer of 4 with a remainder of 2 and showed evidence of relating it back to the question.

Question types vary, sometimes allowing for more or less work on the paper. However, the key is to keep students accountable for showing evidence of each of the three steps in the Mathematician's Plan.

Task 1: Identifying the Steps

First, let's take the time to identify the steps in a completed problem.

1. Click HERE for the slide of the example problem.
2. Add text boxes in the slide. You must identify EACH of the three steps in the mathematician's plan as well as writing a short blurb discussing how you know.

Task 2: Creating an Exemplar

Now it's your turn to create an exemplar!

1. Click HERE to access the question
2. Use the code CQ7DYX to access the assignment

References and Resources

Krawec, J., Huang, J., Montague, M., Kressler, B., & de Alba, A. M. (2013). The Effects of Cognitive Strategy Instruction on Knowledge of Math Problem-Solving Processes of Middle School Students with Learning Disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 36(2), 80–92.