Yesterday, I pointed out how ridiculous a test question was. I had some great answers on the post, on Twitter and a
heated discussion on the
Facebook page. So, with that in mind, I thought about how I would fix the problem. Here are five ideas:
- Ask it in such a way that doesn't force students to figure out what's being asked. If it read, "If she continues this process, what will it be on week five," then it doesn't punish ELL students who lack the syntax knowledge of unnecessary sophistry.
- Find a real linear relationship that fits a real context. If you want students to slow down and pay attention to what's being asked, then ask something better. Or better yet, let the students find a linear relationship and explain why the rate is constant. A similar options might be to ask the students look at the pseudo-context and re-write the problem in a more meaningful way.
- Let the students actually grow plants. Seriously. Let them use plant growth as a way to learn about independent and dependent variables and graphing. Let them create charts and use estimation to make predictions. Allow them to see whether or not plant growth is truly linear and have discussions on human error in measurement.
- Develop a math word problem with multiple plants and multiple growth measures. Have students create an algorithm and then make a suggestion on when the algorithm will break down. Let them find the mean, median, mode and outliers. Ask them to discuss their process.
- Use this as a critical reading assignment where students see the lack of clarity and re-write it themselves. It is, on so many levels, an example of poorly written functional text.
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