For

the New

Maths
National
Curriculum

Problem Solving
and Reasoning
Integrate practical problem solving
and reasoning into every maths lesson

Tim Handley

E
FR EE
M PL
SA
How to use the resources
Structure
The resource is split into two sections:

1 Key strategies
2 Activities and investigations
At the back of the book you will also find a glossary of useful mathematical terms. All the
supporting resources, including editable PowerPoint problem posters and Word files of the
Resource Sheets can be found on the CD-ROM that accompanies this Teachers Book.

Key strategies
This section provides 14 constructs or routines which can be used to integrate problem
solving and reasoning into every maths lesson. Each Key Strategy is accompanied by a full
explanation, tips for its use and a number of different examples of how the strategy could be
used in different areas of mathematics to develop reasoning.
The examples provided are drawn from many areas of the mathematics curriculum. They are
intended as starting points, which can then be taken and developed to use in all areas of
mathematics.
Each strategy also contains a conversation snippet from a case study from the schools where
these resources have been trialled.
Note that the content of some examples is pitched slightly below the equivalent year content
objectives in the Programme of Study. This is to allow children to focus on the development of
their reasoning skills, using subject knowledge with which they are already familiar.

6 Maths stories

As the children create their story they are likely General prompt questions to use with number- What is half the number? Half this number?

to create and use their own generalisations and based stories (including fractions and decimals). Can you round this number to the nearest

Key strategy patterns. Discussing these with them using the What
else do we know? and What do we notice? key


What type of number is it?
What is it a multiple of?
10/20/50?
What happens when you multiply the number by

strategies is particularly effective. What are some multiples of the number? 1000? 10,000?
Give the children a number, Does this number have any prime factors? What happens when you divide the number by

geometry concept or measure This strategy can also work well as an individual or What factors does it have? Does this mean it is a 10? 100?
paired activity, followed by a class race to record as
and ask them to write its story, many different elements of the number story on an
special type of number? What can you multiply together to make this

Can you write this as a fraction/decimal/ number?
that is as much as they know or interactive whiteboard within a given time limit. percentage? What calculations could this number be involved

can work out about it. What is double the number? Double this number? in?
Watch out
! Children may focus on one pattern.

Why its effective Children often get locked on to one pattern, for
Odd number,
example, doubling and halving. Encourage children
This strategy encourages children to explore not even
to explore other patterns by setting a target number
everything they know about a mathematical concept of unrelated facts that they record.
and is therefore particularly effective at developing Double Multiple
childrens subject knowledge whilst also encouraging
them to reason.
! Children may run out of facts to record. 32 of 6

Sometimes children will appear to run out of facts

Through telling a story, children are also likely to to record. Draw the childrens attention to patterns
form and use their own generalisations and patterns, within what they have recorded so far and ask: What Multiple
which can be a great starting point for further else do we know? A bank of prompt questions may 63.8 and 64.3 of 4
discussion. also be useful, providing prompts for investigation, rounded to the nearest
e.g. What number is double the number? What are whole number The story
Tips for use the factors of the number? of 64

Not prime
Start by giving the children a number (which could Try these
include a decimal, a fraction, a negative number), a 60 + 4
geometry concept (e.g. a shape or co-ordinate), or a Below are some examples to introduce your class
measure, (e.g. an angle). Then ask them to write as to this strategy. In these examples, the content level
many statements as they can about the item given. is sometimes lower than that set out in the National An integer
4 + 60
Curriculum for Year 6. This is to allow children to 50 + 14
For example, when given a number the children focus on the development of reasoning skills, without
may choose to look at the classification of the being restricted by subject knowledge.
number (odd, even, prime, square, etc.), the factors
and multiples of the number, doubling and halving 55 + 9 Digit sum 10
the number, sums and differences that lead to the
number, statements that involve proportions of the
number, story of a shape, etc.

Child B: - Which would have

180 degrees.
Case studies
A snippet from a conversation between two Year 6 children discussing the question:
from the Child A: Half of it is a semi-circle.
What is the story of of a circle? Child A: Well, its got one line
classroom and no vertices.

Child B: Its 360 degrees.

26 Problem Solving and Reasoning Year 6 Key strategies 27

6 Problem Solving and Reasoning Year 6

Activities and investigations
This section provides 18 extended problem-solving activities. These all develop one or more
key problem-solving and reasoning skills, as well as, covering an area of the 2014 National
Curriculum. Each activity will last a minimum of one hour and can in many cases, be developed
further. The resources for each activity comprise:
A poster to display on the interactive whiteboard to introduce the problem to the children.
This includes the background to the problem, the main challenge or challenges, plus
Things to think about prompts to help develop childrens reasoning skills. Where
appropriate, definitions of any key mathematical terms are also included. Full colour
versions of the posters can be found on the accompanying CD-ROM as editable
PowerPoint files. They are also reproduced in The problem section of the teacher
guidance for ease of reference. Some of the PowerPoint presentations include additional
poster slides that can be used to aid differentiation by providing easier and harder
versions of the problem.
Detailed teacher guidance, which includes a learning objective, curriculum links,
background knowledge and a step-by-step teaching sequence. The guidance
also provides key questions to help develop reasoning (which use one of more of the Key
Strategies). Ideas of how to adapt the activity for those that require further support and
how the activity could be extended to meet the needs of more able mathematicians are
also included.
For some of the problems, additional Resource sheets that may be useful for the problem
are provided on the CD-ROM.

15 Monsters

The values on all the posters are Pair work provides opportunities for discussion
Learning objective Reasoning skills Curriculum link exchangeable, whilst keeping the overall value around things to think about prompts on the
To solve problems using Working systematically 123 Number and place value: of the monster the same, e.g. on poster a, a posters, whilst working independently would
addition of fractions, including Solving problems add including fractions yellow cube worth 15 16 can be exchanged for a allow for a more accurate assessment of
mixed numbers and fractions brown (163 ) and blue ( 34 ) cube. childrens addition skills.
Conjecturing and convincing
with different denominators. You can use the editable version of the
posters to change the values (and colour of
cubes) to suit your own class.
The problem

Launching the activity Developing reasoning

How are you going to make sure the cubes in your

1. Introduce the problem using one of the prompt
monster add up to the target value?
posters.
What do you notice about the cube values?

Give me a peculiar, obvious (and general)

monster that meets the target value.
2. Ask the children to discuss and convince each
Give me a way of making 1 12 using these cubes.

other how they could add two of the fractions.
Another, another, another.
Provide physical resources, such as interlocking
Convince me that your monster will/does add up

cubes and bead strings to support. The children
to the target value.
can assign each bead/cube the value of 18 or 161
(depending on the prompt used) to help them
prove these statements. Providing differentiation
Support
The values provided on the posters can be edited so
3. Ask the children to discuss the problem with a
that this activity is accessible for all the children in
partner. What would be the best way to attempt
your class. Ensure they have access to a wide range
the problem?
of representations to help them calculate the totals.

Extension
4. Discuss ways of tackling the problem as a Add additional constraints to the activity, e.g. on
class. Ask: Do you think there would be more poster a, say that only one green cube can be used,
than one way to make a monster with this value? or that a minimum of four brown cubes must be used.

Background knowledge
5. Allow the children time to work independently, Key strategies
Using a selection of coloured interlocking o c: suitable for the children who are not or in pairs, on their monster(s)
cubes, children are asked to create a monster. confident with adding fractions with 2 Another, another, another
Each cube is assigned a value and the mixed denominators. This mainly involves 8 Peculiar, obvious, general
children have a target which their monster the same denominator, with one mixed 6. If children complete one monster, ask them to 10 What do you notice?
must be worth. number. consider how they could easily create a different
The poster problem has three different levels: Fractions with the same denominator can monster with the same overall value.
o a: the most challenging requiring a secure be added simply by adding the numerators
knowledge of addition of fractions, together, e.g. 58 and 18 = 78 . Problem-solving approaches
including converting to equivalent fractions Fractions with different denominators can be 7. Then ask the children to compare their monster Snowballing works particularly well for this
together. added by converting each fraction so that the with someone/another pair who is using the problem.
o b: suitable for children who are developing fractions share a common denominator, e.g. same version of the poster. Ask them to check
3 1 6 1 7
their fraction addition skills. This also 4 + 8 = 8 + 8 = 8. each others monster(s) to ensure they meet the
includes converting to equivalent fractions The target values on the posters are
to add fractions together. achievable by using more than one
overall value and then to compare the differences Taking it further
in how they have been made up.
combination of the cubes. The files can be adapted to create a similar activity for
different areas of maths. For example, the cubes could
be assigned decimal values, large number values etc.
72 Problem Solving and Reasoning Year 6 Activities and investigations 73

Introduction 7
 Year 2 Key Strategy

3 Convince me

When supporting children in responding to this

strategy, the following USE ME stages are often
Key strategy useful (see page 10 for more detail):

Understanding: do children understand the

Make a statement to the statement?
children and ask them to Specialising: looking at one, or a small number
decide whether it is accurate or of examples of the statement.
Encouraging representations: how could we
not, then explain their reasoning represent the statement, or our specific examples
to convince you. of the statement?
Making generalisations: by looking at our
specialised examples, can we begin to make a
statement that applies to all examples?
Extending: provide a further, linked, question for
Why its effective children to explore. This often works well when
used with other strategies from this book.
This key strategy encourages children to look at
the structure of mathematics and is another way
for children to explore the concept of mathematical
Watch out
proof. Through trying to convince someone that
a statement is true, children will begin to make
! Children may respond with Because it is .

generalisations and develop their thinking. When children are first asked to convince someone
that a statement is true, they often respond with
Tips for use a response along the lines of Because it is .
or Because my teachers have always told me.
This strategy is particularly effective when the Children can be encouraged to respond in the form
statements given to children are statements which It is true that ... because ... .
they take for granted and assume are correct.
Asking children to convince you that these are true
(e.g. multiplication is the opposite of division, i.e. 3
! Children may not know where to start.

First check if children have the required prior

4 = 12, 12 4 = 3) will deepen their conceptual
knowledge and understanding to be able to convince
understanding of mathematics.
you that the statement is true. If they do, then
Whilst the strategy can be effectively used with given providing some initial probing questions, perhaps
statements, perhaps the most powerful use of this by using panic envelopes (see Problem solving
strategy is in response to childrens own statements techniques on page 11), can help them to follow a
and can sometimes lead to an impromptu, but line of reasoning
valuable, diversion from the planned activity.
Try these
The strategy can be used alongside the Always,
sometimes, never strategy to help develop and Below are some examples to introduce your class
prompt childrens thinking. to this strategy. In these examples, the content level
is sometimes lower than that set out in the National
Curriculum for Year 2. This is to allow children to

Case studies
A snippet from a conversation between two Year 2 children discussing the question:
from the
Convince me me that 60>40.
classroom

20 Problem Solving and Reasoning Year 2

focus on the development of reasoning skills, without (Understanding and Making generalisations)
being restricted by subject knowledge. What is a quadrilateral? How can we define a
quadrilateral? (A quadrilateral is any shape with
Convince me that addition is the opposite of
four straight sides.
subtraction.
(Specialising) Can you come up with a
(Understanding) What does addition and
multiplication number sentence?
subtraction mean?
So, do all of these shapes meet the definition of a
(Specialising) Lets look at an example. How
quadrilateral?
about 13 + 12 = 25. What is the opposite of this
Are squares and rectangles also quadrilaterals?
statement?
(Extending) Could you draw me a really strange
(Encouraging representations) How could we
quadrilateral?
represent an addition? How about a subtraction?
(Making generalisations) Is this the same for all Convince me that all of these shapes are
addition and subtraction facts? quadrilaterals.
(Extending) Are there any other operations that What does the < sign mean?
are the opposite of each other? Is this the case here? Is 20 smaller than 90? How
do we know?
Convince me that multiplication and addition are
linked.
(Understanding and Making generalisations) What
does multiplication mean? What do we mean
Activities and investigations
when we say multiply a number? 2 Many, many methods
(Specialising) Can you come up with a 4 Double your robot
multiplication number sentence? 5 Calculation families
(Making generalisations) How are these 6 Put it in the right place
multiplications and additions linked? 7 Moneybox puzzle
(Extending) Are there any other operations that 9 A difference of 5
are linked to each other in some way? 10 Coin totals
Convince me that all of these shapes are
quadrilaterals.

Child B: Yes, and thats true as we

know 60 has 2 more tens than 40.
Child A: I think > means bigger than.
Child A: Yes, and thats true as we
know 60 has 2 more tens than 40.

Key strategies 21
 Year 2 Activity

4 Double your robot

Learning objective Reasoning skills Curriculum link

To solve problems involving Making comparisons 123 Number: multiplication
multiplication. Making generalisations
Measurement: comparing
To compare and order lengths. Solving problems length

The problem
Download the colour activity poster at
www.risingstars-uk.com/problemsolving

Background knowledge
The children are challenged to create a robot cubing the original dimensions (doubling the
that is double the size of their teachers robot. height turns 1 cube into 2, doubling the 2 (the
Following the same design, the 3-D robot new width) will give 4, then doubling again
could be doubled in different ways: by (the new depth) gives 8 cubes.) This is way
doubling its height, its width, its depth or by beyond the Year 2 programme of study, so
doubling it in every direction. doubling in one direction is acceptable.
The problem can be adapted for any model To promote reasoning, encourage children to
made with interlocking cubes. They key explain in what way they have doubled the
element is that the model is easy to replicate. robot.
A correct solution to this problem could To tackle the challenge successfully, children
involve the doubling of the robot in any will require the support of frequent mini-
direction, as the challenge is non-specific. plenaries to scaffold their thinking and help
If you double the robot in all directions, you them to stay on track.
replace each cube with 8 cubes, essentially

50 Problem Solving and Reasoning Year 2

Launching the activity Developing reasoning
What do you notice about the number of cubes
1. Join two interlocking cubes together. Then
needed for the second tower of cubes compared
make a separate tower of four interlocking
with the first tower?
cubes.
Whats the same? Whats different about the
first robot and the doubled robot?
Convince me or a partner that your robot is
2. Ask: What do you notice? Try to encourage
double the size of the original one. How do you
children to realise that the tower of four cubes is
know?
double the length of the tower of two cubes.
Can you double your robot in a way that no one
else will? How is it different?
3. Ensure that children understand the concept
of doubling. Link it to halving and work through Providing differentiation
some similar examples with the children making
Support
towers that are double of half of the length of the
Sit with the children and help them to check that
towers that you show them.
each part of their robot is the correct dimension.

Extension
4. Share the poster with the children. Challenge the children to double the dimensions of
the robot in more than one way. Can they make a
robot that is half the size of one that you give them?
5. Using interlocking cubes, build the robot as
outlined on the poster. As you do this, describe
the dimensions of the robots body parts so Key strategies
that children become familiar with the robots
dimensions. 3 Convince me
10 What do you notice?
12 Whats the same? Whats different?
6. Set the challenge and answer any questions.
Ensure that children understand that they can
double the robot in any way that they like. This
problem works well with children working in Problem-solving approaches
mixed-ability pairs.
Working systematically
Mixed-ability pairs
7. Use mini-plenaries to focus the children on
doubling the robots dimensions.
Taking it further
Encourage the children to make other shapes with
8. After about 20 minutes, ask the children to interlocking cubes. Ask: How can you change its
place all their robots on a table so that you can size?
compare them with the original robot.

9. Look together at each robot. Ask: Whats

the same? Whats different about each robot
compared with the original?

Activities and investigations 51

 Year 5 Key Strategy

10 What do you notice?

This strategy can also be used alongside many of

the other key strategies, which can help to focus
Key strategy childrens thinking and reasoning skills.

Ask the children, What do Watch out

you notice? about a number, ! Children may not see the generalities.
set of numbers, shape or Sometimes children will be unable to independently
mathematical statement. state the generality or generalities relating to the
statement which has been given. To help them see
the generality, use follow-up questions, which could
involve some of the other key strategies. Whats the
same? Whats different? is particularly effective here.
Why its effective Panic envelopes, with follow-up questions (see page
This strategy encourages the children to look 11) can also be used.
deeper into the structure of mathematics. Through
answering the question, What do you notice? the Try these
children will be making their own generalisations and
Below are some examples to introduce your class
testing them against specific examples.
to this strategy. In these examples, the content level
is sometimes lower than that set out in the National
Tips for use Curriculum for Year 5. This is to allow children to
This strategy is very effective when the children are focus on the development of reasoning skills, without
given time to talk and discuss the statement with a being restricted by subject knowledge.
partner or small groups, before feeding back to the
What do you notice about multiples of 11?
class (larger group) with the expectation that they
Can you list some multiples of 11?
convince the larger group of what they notice.
Whats the same and whats different about these
When using this strategy, you can provide the multiples?
children with sets of numbers/mathematical objects Find the digit sum of each of your multiples of 11.
(e.g. 3, 6, 9, 12; a rectangle, a square and rhombus) What do you notice?
or general statements/properties (e.g. all multiples of Can you use this knowledge to say if any number
3, what happens when you multiply by 100?). is a multiple of 11? Is 253 a multiple of 11?

The childrens reasoning skills can be further What do you notice about this set of numbers:
developed by asking follow-up questions or providing 9, 16, 25, 36?
follow-up statements once they have responded What would the next number be in this sequence?
to the initial What do you notice? question. The
strategy Always, sometimes, never true often
works well as a follow-up to a What do you notice?
question as this allows children to further develop
their generalisations.

Case studies
A snippet from a conversation between two Year 5 children discussing the question:
from the
What do you notice about when they divide by 100.
classroom

34 Problem Solving and Reasoning Year 5

What do you notice about the total of the interior What are the lengths of each side of these
angles of a hexagon? squares?
Can you measure the angles inside this hexagon? Is there any link between the lengths of the sides
Do you think total of the angles inside another and the area of the square?
hexagon would be the same or would they be Can you use this to give a general statement
different? (formula) to find the area of a square? What do
Would the total be the same for both regular and you notice about the decimal equivalents to 13 , 23 ,
4
irregular hexagons? 9?
How would you find the decimal equivalent?
What do you notice about fractions which are What do you notice about the decimal?
equivalent to 56 ? Do you think the decimal would repeat the same
Lets list some equivalent fractions to 56 . digit forever?
What do you notice about the numerators and How could we write this down?
denominators in these fractions?
Can you give me a peculiar, obvious and general What do you notice about a parallelogram?
equivalent fraction to 56 ? How many sides does it have?
Are any of these sides parallel?
What do you notice about what happens when you
divide by 100?
What appears to happen when you divide 4500
by 100?
Does the same happen if you divided 45.5 by 100?
Activities and investigations
8 Tablet problems
What do you notice about the area of a square?
11 Place value guess who
Lets draw some squares on squared paper?
12 Angles add up
(Ensure children also draw a square, i.e. a special
15 Fraction pairs
rectangle.)
18 Body proportions
Can you work out the area of these squares by
counting the squares?

Child A: So whats happening?

Child A: Well sometimes the 0s disappear Do the digits move?
from the end so 4200 100 is 42. Child B: But thats not always true
though because 391 100 is 3.91!

Key strategies 35
 Year 5 Activity

8 Tablet problems

Learning objective Reasoning skills Curriculum link

To recognise, explain and Working systematically 123 Number and place value:
continue patterns to find all Solving problems find all possible answers
possible answers.
Conjecturing and convincing
Specialising and generalising

The problem Download the colour activity poster at

www.risingstars-uk.com/problemsolving

Background knowledge
This problem involves children looking for Children will find it easier to break into the
patterns in numbers and using these to problem if they initially simplify the criteria,
calculate the total number of combinations and specialise to a simpler example before
that are possible. make a general statement. For example, by
The solution to this problem can be found saying that it was only a 2-digit code with
by multiplication. There are four possible the choice of the digits 12. They could then
numbers per space in the code, therefore easily list the possible codes (four in total: 11,
the total number of possibilities can be found 12, 21, 22). Next they could increase this to
by calculating 4 4 4 4 (or 44, but this a 2-digit code with a choice of the digits 13
notation is above the KS2 program of study) (nine in total). After carrying out a few more
which equals 256. modifications to the criteria, the multiplicative
pattern will become more apparent.

58 Problem Solving and Reasoning Year 5

Launching the activity possible combinations for the example you have
just tried?
Whats the same? Whats different between
1. Show the poster prompt to the children.
the number of combinations for (pick to examples
that the group has worked out)?
2. Ask them to think, pair and share their first Is there a link between the number of digits in
considered guess at the solution. Invite groups the code, the possible digits and the number of
to share possible solutions and briefly discuss combinations? Convince me.
them. How are you making sure that you have found all
the possibilities for the specialised examples you
are trying?
3. Take suggestions for tackling the problem.
Explore how this could be cracked by working Providing differentiation
out all the possible combinations, but that this
Support
could take a long time!
Provide a number of simpler scenarios, starting
with the ones developed in the shared learning, for
4. Suggest specialising and looking for patterns children to work through together. The multiplication
for this type of problem, before generalising. link may not be spotted, so this may need to be
explicitly worked through with an adult. Appropriately
chosen questions in a panic envelope to meet the
5. Ask the children to imagine it was the most needs of your individual children may also help with
simple passcode with just one digit (either 1 or this problem.
2). Establish that there would be two possibilities.
Extension
The children can extend this to more complex codes,
first a standard code of four digits between 19.
6. Together make the passcode slightly more
They could then even calculate the security of a
complex. Ask children to imagine it had two
6-letter password (26 26 26 26 26 26 =
digits (either 1 or 2). Ask them to work out with
308,915,776).
their partner how many possible solutions there
could be.

7. Discuss their answers. Explain that they could

Key strategies
now make the criteria slightly more complex, find 3 Convince me
all the possibilities and begin to look for patterns 10 What do you notice?
and relationships to make a generalisation. 12 Whats the same? Whats different?

8. Give children time to work together in small

groups then discuss their findings, including Problem-solving approaches
any patterns. Assuming the pattern has been
Graffiti maths is particularly effective for this
spotted, children could now work out how many
problem.
combinations there would be for a standard
passcode (four digits in the code, digits 09, so
10 10 10 10 = 10,000].
Taking it further
Other problems which involve systematic working
Developing reasoning and finding all possibilities, such as units 1, 3 and 12
in this resource, would be a natural follow on from
How could you specialise and make the problem
this problem.
simpler?
What do you notice about the number of

Activities and investigations 59

 Year 6 Key Strategy

1 Hard and easy

4

The children should be encouraged to explain why

the examples they have given are hard or easy.
Key strategy This could be by way of a written explanation or by
convincing their partner/an adult verbally that their
responses are hard or easy.
Ask the children to give you
an example of a hard and Watch out
easy answer to a question,
!
Children may respond to the request for a hard
explaining why one is hard example, e.g. of an addition, by giving very large
and the other easy. multiples of 10 (e.g. 730000 + 2100000).

Ask the children to convince you why this is a hard

example. Then discuss how this could be made
easy, e.g. by multiplying/dividing by a multiple of
Why its effective 10 and using known facts (in the example above,
This strategy encourages the children to think closely 730 + 2100 = 2830 2830 1000 = 2830000).
about the structure of mathematics and enables
them to demonstrate a conceptual understanding of Try these
concepts. Children enjoy the challenge of coming up Below are some examples to introduce your class
with hard examples that still meet the requirements to this strategy. In these examples, the content level
set out in the question. is sometimes lower than that set out in the National
The choices children make when responding to this Curriculum for Year 6. This is to allow children to
strategy often provide valuable information about focus on the development of reasoning skills, without
what they find difficult, which may not always be being restricted by
what you expect! For example, if a child constantly subject knowledge.
gives calculations involving decimals as a hard Give me a hard and easy example of a 5-digit
question, then this would probably indicate they are addition.
insecure with decimal place value. Easy: 30000 + 30000 as both numbers are round
Hard: 93587 + 89874 as the addition crosses the
Tips for use ten thousand, thousands, hundreds, tens and
Unlike most of the strategies in this book, this strategy units boundary
generally works best if children are encouraged to Give me a hard and easy set of numbers to
respond individually first. Once they have come compare using the < > = signs.
up with their own hard and easy responses they Easy: 2, 40, 60 as they are all positive numbers
should then be encouraged to discuss and compare and have a clear difference between them
these with a partner or larger group. The strategy Hard: 32.3 , 32.873, and 32.784 as they are all
Whats the same? Whats different? can be used decimal negative numbers which are very close
here to encourage children to compare and contrast in value
their responses and draw out key themes/concepts.

Case studies
A snippet from a conversation between two Year 6 children discussing the question:
from the
Give me a hard and easy example of a 5-digit addition.
classroom

22 Problem Solving and Reasoning Year 6

Give me a hard and easy example of a sequence of Give me a hard and easy example of a question
numbers generated from the statement 2 x + 3. you could ask about this pie chart.
Easy: 5, 7, 9, 11 Easy and hard answers will depend on the chart
Hard: 199, 207, 215 you provide for the children.

Give me a hard and easy example of a square Give me a hard and easy example of a multiple of 7
number. over 100.
Easy: 4 (22) as its a commonly known square Easy: 700 as its a multiple of 100
number and is one of the first: 2 2 Hard: 1113 as its over 1000 and is not a multiple
Hard: 169 (132) as its the square of a number of 10, 100 or 1000
over 10
Give me a hard and easy example of a way to sort
Give me a hard and easy example of a question the children in our class.
that asks you to find a proportion of a number. Easy: by gender, as there are only two groups and
Easy: 12 of 6 as doubles and halves of single-digit it is obvious who belongs to which
numbers should be a known fact for everyone Hard: by length of arms, as there are no defined
Hard: 37% of 382 as it involves a percentage that groups and there is likely to be a large range of
is not simple to find (e.g. it is not 10%, 20% etc.) length of arms in our class
and would involve calculating with decimals in
order to find the answer

Give me a hard and easy example of a shape

where you can find the area using a formula. Activities and investigations
1 Missing numbers
5 Cube nets
10 Missing problems

Easy: as there is a simple formula for the area of a

rectangle

Hard: as this would need to be broken up into two

or more shapes in order to find the area

Child A: Well, if you keep the numbers

Child B: And to make them hard,
low and similar it makes it easy,
you could make sure that all the
like 11 111 + 22 222.
places add up to more than 10,
like 56 789 + 98 765.

Key strategies 23
 Year 6 Activity

10 Missing problems

Learning objective Reasoning skills Curriculum link

To create problems expressed Making connections Proportionality: solve
in words which involve Reasoning numerically problems with fractions
fractions.

The problem
Download the colour activity poster at
www.risingstars-uk.com/problemsolving

Background knowledge
This problem asks the children to write o reasoning with fractions, e.g. 14 of a class
their own worded problems which involve are boys, there are 18 girls, how many
fractions. Their responses and the problems children are in the class? Creating such
they create will provide a clear indication of questions would suggest that children are
their level of confidence with fractions. secure in their fractions knowledge.
In a wide range of different problems, most o finding the value before a fractional
will have one of the following underlying increase/decrease, e.g. 75 is the price
structures: in a 25% off sale; what was the original
o fraction of an amount/quantity, e.g. price?
finding 34 of a quantity for a recipe etc. o multi-step problems involving the above,
Those children insecure in their fraction e.g. requiring more than one calculation,
knowledge will probably just use unit e.g. a multiplication calculation and then
fractions of a quantity, e.g. 13 , 15 , etc. finding a fraction.
o fraction increase/decrease, e.g. a price Children should be encouraged to use
increasing/decreasing by 13 , working out real-life contexts for their problems, e.g.
new price measurements, money, survey responses etc.

62 Problem Solving and Reasoning Year 6

Launching the activity Whats the same? Whats different between

these two problems which you have created?
1. Introduce the poster prompt. Adding extra Convince me that this problem is solvable.

drama is encouraged! Give me a silly answer to this problem you have

written. What makes it silly?

2. Begin by asking the children to think about Providing differentiation

when they may use fractions in real life.
Gradually snowball these suggestions together, Support
to create a shared list on the interactive The children may benefit from being provided with
whiteboard or working wall. base calculations to build their real-life problem
around, e.g. 14 of 80 g etc. These could be provided in
a panic envelope.
3. Model the creation of a worded fraction
problem together with the children. Extension
The children could be challenged to ensure that each
of the problems which they create has a different
4. Give the children time to create their problems, underlying structure.
preferably working in pairs to encourage
discussion. Key strategies
3 Convince me
5. Then ask the children to swap their problems 4 Hard and easy
with another pair. Give them time to solve each 9 Silly answers
others worded problems. 10 What do you notice?
11 What else do we know?
12 Whats the same? Whats different?
6. At the end of the session, discuss the different
types of problems created. Which problems were
hard or easy to solve? Which problems were the
Problem-solving approaches
most realistic?
Paired work, snowball

Developing reasoning
Give me a situation where you would use fractions
Taking it further
in real life. Another, another, another.
This activity could be used as the springboard into
Give me a hard and easy worded fraction

further fraction, decimal and percentage activities.
problem. What makes it hard/easy?

Activities and investigations 63

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