A child or young person can calculate accurately and still struggle to decide what a problem is asking, which information matters or how several steps connect. Helpful support makes the structure visible without choosing the method or doing the calculation for them.

Start with the school routine

Ask school which problem-solving routine, diagram or worked example is used in class. Use the same order and language at home. A simple routine is:

1. Identify the question. What must the final answer tell us?

2. Select the information. Which numbers and facts matter?

3. Draw or model it. Use objects, a drawing, a table, a number sentence or a diagram school uses, such as a bar model.

4. Plan the steps. What should be found first, and why?

5. Calculate.

6. Check the answer. Does it answer the original question and include the correct unit?

The drawing or model should show how the numbers in the problem relate to each other. It is not an extra picture added after the method has already been chosen.

A Primary example

“A shop has 24 apples. It puts six apples in each bag. How many bags can it fill?”

Ask the child to say what 24 and six represent. They might draw 24 dots and circle groups of six, use counters or write a division sentence. Ask, “Are we finding the number of apples or the number of bags?” This keeps the calculation connected to the question.

When the work is complete, check that the answer is labelled “four bags”, not simply “4”.

A Secondary example

“A jacket costs £68 and is reduced by 15%. What is the sale price?”

Before calculating, ask the young person to write a short plan:

• find 15% of £68;

• subtract the reduction from £68;

• label the result as the sale price.

They may use a method taught at school, such as finding 10% and 5%, or a permitted calculator. After each calculation, label what it has found: “discount” or “sale price”. Estimate first: a 15% reduction is a little more than £10, so the answer should be a little under £58.

Prompt without solving

Useful prompts include:

• What are you trying to find?

• What does this number represent?

• Could a diagram or table show the relationship?

• What must be worked out before the final answer?

• What has this calculation found?

• Does the answer fit the context?

Avoid operation keywords such as “more means add”. The same word can appear in problems requiring different operations. Ask about the mathematical relationship instead.

Reduce the support

At first, work through the routine together and keep the steps visible. Next, point only to the stage that has been missed. Finally, ask them to run the check independently.

If they repeatedly cannot interpret the question, select relevant information or keep track of multiple steps, save one example and discuss it with school. The difficulty may involve mathematical vocabulary, number understanding, calculation, memory or the structure of the problem; more practice of the same question type may not address the cause.

A useful free resource

National Numeracy’s Family Maths Toolkit includes everyday problem-solving activities for families. You need to give an email address to get them.

Talamo has no commercial relationship with any of the organisations named here. We suggest them only because we think they could be useful to families.