DISCUSSION: MULTI-STEP WORD PROBLEMS Refer to the Discussion Board Rubric to familiarize yourself with the evaluative criteria for Discussion Board Assignments. For the past several weeks, you have focused on multi-digit addition and subtraction algorithms. Once students reach this stage, their problem-solving skills more closely resemble those of adults. They are more likely to understand the connection between addition and subtraction, and they no longer require the direct modeling of a situation to calculate a sum or difference. However, that does not mean you should focus solely on algorithms and computation. You can reinforce addition and subtraction skills while maintaining the essential connection to real-life problem solving. Although the strategies have increased in complexity, the situations you first encountered in Week 1 have not. No matter how large the numbers, the three classes of addition and subtraction situations (add to/take from, put together/take apart, and compare) still apply; furthermore, within those classes, there exist different levels of difficulty. For example, a compare situation involving an unknown difference is easier to calculate than a compare situation involving an unknown smaller quantity. In this Discussion, you will collaborate with your colleagues to generate challenging two- and three-step word problems that require your students to apply all of the computational and problem-solving skills presented in this course. RESOURCES Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity. Click the weekly resources link to access the resources. WEEKLY RESOURCE To prepare for the Discussion: Review the addition and subtraction situations in Table 2 of the Progressions for the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics: K, Counting and Cardinality; K–5, Operations and Algebraic Thinking article. Review the difference between a “situation equation” and a “solution equation,” as explained in Week 1. Think about one of the most difficult types of multi-step problems, in which an intermediate step is omitted. For example, consider the following word problem: 237 red buses, 452 blue buses, and 2,390 cars are parked at a baseball stadium. How many more cars than buses are parked there
