Student Work Week 5

 This week, we started a math class off by doing a math boxes page in their math journal. One of the problems gave a few students some difficulty, so I decided to take pictures of a few different ones to see how they did with it. In the fifth math box, students were to count up from circle to circle by 10. It starts  with 50 and stops at 80, going up every ten. From 80, the circles go to the next line, however instead of starting at the usual left to right, it just goes straight from 80, so the arrow can reach to the 90, I'm guessing. Although the rule is to add ten, this student goes from 90 to 80 to 70 to 60. What she did makes sense. The arrows are going down, so the logical thing to do would be to subtract and go backwards down the number line. I found this to be very interesting because she was just doing what looked to be correct, even though the rule is to add ten from one circle to the next.

In the above math box, the student was correct with his addition. He correctly added 90 plus ten, plus ten, plus another ten. This student used his background knowledge of starting from left to right to place his sequence of 100, 110, and 120. I find it interesting because I feel as though these students ultimately understand how to add ten to each number, even though they didn't represent it properly. The textbook answer is for the 100 to be next to the 90. This makes me think of a few problems. The first problem  is the fact that the arrows are pointing backwards, and the problem is not clear on what to do when the arrows are going backwards. I am wondering if the problem was meant to see how students react to it, or if they understand that the rule is to add ten, so I must add ten regardless of which way the arrows are pointing. To me, this may be a good assessment to see how the students do, and how they tackle the problem, however, if one were grading this, and just marked it wrong, students may not realize why. Unless you specifically explain to them what they did wrong, I feel like the students would think that their computations are incorrect. I am wondering if you put these same numbers in front of students in a straight row, if the students would be able to add ten correctly.