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Problem Solving

 A selection of resources containing a wide range of open-ended tasks, practical tasks, investigations and real life problems, to support investigative work and problem solving in primary mathematics.

Problem Solving in Primary Maths - the Session

Quality Assured Category: Mathematics Publisher: Teachers TV

In this programme shows a group of four upper Key Stage Two children working on a challenging problem; looking at the interior and exterior angles of polygons and how they relate to the number of sides. The problem requires the children to listen to each other and to work together co-operatively. The two boys and two girls are closely observed as they consider how to tackle the problem, make mistakes, get stuck and arrive at the "eureka" moment. They organise the data they collect and are then able to spot patterns and relate them to the original problem to find a formula to work out the exterior angle of any polygon. At the end of the session the children report back to Mark, explaining how they arrived at the solution, an important part of the problem solving process.

In a  second video  two maths experts discuss some of the challenges of teaching problem solving. This includes how and at what stage to introduce problem solving strategies and the appropriate moment to intervene when children find tasks difficult. They also discuss how problem solving in the curriculum also helps to develop life skills.

Cards for Cubes: Problem Solving Activities for Young Children

Quality Assured Category: Mathematics Publisher: Claire Publications

This book provides a series of problem solving activities involving cubes. The tasks start simply and progress to more complicated activities so could be used for different ages within Key Stages One and Two depending on ability. The first task is a challenge to create a camel with 50 cubes that doesn't fall over. Different characters are introduced throughout the book and challenges set to create various animals, monsters and structures using different numbers of cubes. Problems are set to incorporate different areas of mathematical problem solving they are: using maths, number, algebra and measure.

problem solving maths ks2

Problem solving with EYFS, Key Stage One and Key Stage Two children

Quality Assured Category: Computing Publisher: Department for Education

These three resources, from the National Strategies, focus on solving problems.

  Logic problems and puzzles  identifies the strategies children may use and the learning approaches teachers can plan to teach problem solving. There are two lessons for each age group.

Finding all possibilities focuses on one particular strategy, finding all possibilities. Other resources that would enhance the problem solving process are listed, these include practical apparatus, the use of ICT and in particular Interactive Teaching Programs .

Finding rules and describing patterns focuses on problems that fall into the category 'patterns and relationships'. There are seven activities across the year groups. Each activity includes objectives, learning outcomes, resources, vocabulary and prior knowledge required. Each lesson is structured with a main teaching activity, drawing together and a plenary, including probing questions.

problem solving maths ks2

Primary mathematics classroom resources

Quality Assured Collection Category: Mathematics Publisher: Association of Teachers of Mathematics

This selection of 5 resources is a mixture of problem-solving tasks, open-ended tasks, games and puzzles designed to develop students' understanding and application of mathematics.

Thinking for Ourselves: These activities, from the Association of Teachers of Mathematics (ATM) publication 'Thinking for Ourselves’, provide a variety of contexts in which students are encouraged to think for themselves. Activity 1: In the bag – More or less requires students to record how many more or less cubes in total...

8 Days a Week: The resource consists of eight questions, one for each day of the week and one extra. The questions explore odd numbers, sequences, prime numbers, fractions, multiplication and division.

Number Picnic: The problems make ideal starter activities

Matchstick Problems: Contains two activities concentrating upon the process of counting and spotting patterns. Uses id eas about the properties of number and the use of knowledge and reasoning to work out the rules.

Colours: Use logic, thinking skills and organisational skills to decide which information is useful and which is irrelevant in order to find the solution.

problem solving maths ks2

GAIM Activities: Practical Problems

Quality Assured Category: Mathematics Publisher: Nelson Thornes

Designed for secondary learners, but could also be used to enrich the learning of upper primary children, looking for a challenge. These are open-ended tasks encourage children to apply and develop mathematical knowledge, skills and understanding and to integrate these in order to make decisions and draw conclusions.

Examples include:

*Every Second Counts - Using transport timetables, maps and knowledge of speeds to plan a route leading as far away from school as possible in one hour.

*Beach Guest House - Booking guests into appropriate rooms in a hotel.

*Cemetery Maths - Collecting relevant data from a visit to a local graveyard or a cemetery for testing a hypothesis.

*Design a Table - Involving diagrams, measurements, scale.

problem solving maths ks2

Go Further with Investigations

Quality Assured Category: Mathematics Publisher: Collins Educational

A collection of 40 investigations designed for use with the whole class or smaller groups. It is aimed at upper KS2 but some activities may be adapted for use with more able children in lower KS2. It covers different curriculum areas of mathematics.

problem solving maths ks2

Starting Investigations

The forty student investigations in this book are non-sequential and focus mainly on the mathematical topics of addition, subtraction, number, shape and colour patterns, and money.

The apparatus required for each investigation is given on the student sheets and generally include items such as dice, counters, number cards and rods. The sheets are written using as few words as possible in order to enable students to begin working with the minimum of reading.

NRICH Primary Activities

Explore the NRICH primary tasks which aim to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. Lots of whole class open ended investigations and problem solving tasks. These tasks really get children thinking!

Mathematical reasoning: activities for developing thinking skills

Quality Assured Category: Mathematics Publisher: SMILE

problem solving maths ks2

Problem Solving 2

Reasoning about numbers, with challenges and simplifications.

Quality Assured Category: Mathematics Publisher: Department for Education

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Maths Problem Solving Booklets

Maths Problem Solving Booklets

Subject: Mathematics

Age range: 11-14

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Paul Tyler

Last updated

23 August 2022

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pdf, 424.8 KB

Maths problem solving booklets covering a wide range of mathematical problems designed to improve problem solving strategies as well as numeracy and mathematical ability.

Designed to be printed as A5 booklets.

Disclaimer: These are free because the problems are from a wide variety of sources, most of which I have forgotten. I am a maths problem magpie and collect maths problems wherever I find them. All I have done is bundled these ones up to make it convienent.

If you find a problem that is yours and you don’t want it used please comment and I’ll remove it - cheers.

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KS2 maths – Polya’s problem-solving

problem solving maths ks2

From groans and panic to calm and curiosity – how Claire Coolin made systematic maths lessons less scary…

Claire Coolin

Are you met with groans when you utter the term ‘problem-solving’ to your class?

We all agree that it’s is an important aspect of the curriculum and indeed a life skill, but yet remains a divisive topic of conversation with pupils, parents and colleagues.

So, what is the problem with problem-solving? 

My Year 5 class were high-achieving. In general, they enjoyed maths but when it came to problem-solving many of them froze.

They showed disinterest, nervousness and confusion, saying things like, “The information is hard to process,” and “I couldn’t understand the information as it was just a block of words”.

Interestingly, pupils found the lessons boring when the problems that they solved followed the same routine and pattern, and didn’t provide a level of challenge, interest or excitement.

These routine problems ‘took the fun’ out of maths for them, and while using skills such as addition, subtraction , and so on are all part and parcel of problem-solving, is this what we are trying to achieve here? 

Routine and non-routine problems

Problem-solving can show an in-depth understanding of mathematical concepts where pupils are required to manipulate numbers in order to get to an answer.

However, while routine problems might be easier for the children to solve, they are not aligned to maths in real life .

We don’t live our adult lives practising budgeting for the weekly supermarket shop from Monday to Thursday, with the real deal happening on Friday. Rather, real-life problems can often be spontaneous, unexpected and at first have no obvious solution.

Should we therefore be teaching pupils what to do with the unexpected? Should we be equipping them with the skills to solve non-routine problems? I think the answer is, yes, most definitely. 

Polya’s problem-solving

So what can be done? Is it enough to tell the children in your class to highlight the important words in the problem ?

While this might have helped a few of my pupils to see a way forward, for many this just became a colouring exercise with an impressive array of fancy highlighters on show.

And so I began an action research project to find answers. After poring over many academic articles, I came across Polya’s problem-solving cycle : a cyclical four-step process that could be used to solve any problem, in maths or otherwise. The steps are:  

  • Understanding the problem 
  • Devising a plan 
  • Carrying out the plan 
  • Looking back and reflecting 

Polya’s process was something I wanted to introduce to my class, and so I taught this way of thinking about a problem over a term. The results were surprising and long-lasting, with four key takeaway points. 

I found that the cycle: 

Developed time management skills and enhanced focus 

Polya’s cycle automatically forced students to work through each phase in turn, slowing them down and therefore helping them explore the problem with a more thoughtful and connected approach.

Instead of jumping straight into the doing, the children took time to think about their understanding of what was being asked, and would often get out a dictionary to look up a word they didn’t know the meaning of, or on one occasion, a child even dusted off the ‘never-really-used-before-but-every-class-has-one’ maths dictionary to look up the meaning of a mathematical term.  

Equipped all students with a strategy for tackling any maths problem 

When talking to a group of pupils in my class about problem-solving, I recall them saying, “I can’t work out if I should multiply or add or subtract or whatever.”

This is true for many students and can lead to them freezing, or in some cases, frantically adding and subtracting numbers – essentially jumping straight into phase three.

They needed a strategy. Using the problem-solving steps gave my class a framework, allowing them to think in a logical way.

Straight away, students unfroze, the manic scribbling stopped, and they started from a phase one and worked through the problem more systematically.  

Allowed pupils to see the link between maths and the real world  

When I asked my class why they thought we were learning about problem-solving, I was met with answers about becoming better at maths.

But after using Polya’s steps, the children began to see how the skills in solving maths problems are the same ones used in solving real-world problems.

For example, they realised that if a maths problem can be divided into chunks, then so could any problem.

One sunny afternoon, a couple of students came to me to help solve their playground argument. You can imagine my utter surprise when one of the students said, “I think first we need to understand why we have fallen out then we can come up with a plan to put it right.” Real life problem-solving in action! 

Equipped students with the necessary tools to engage with challenge 

Having challenge in any subject is important, but having the right level of challenge is even more so.

Routine problems can remove that challenge for many, and one of my pupils commented that, “You shouldn’t do lots of the same as it gets too easy. You don’t want to spoil it by knowing all the answers.”

Using Polya’s problem-solving steps with non-routine problems gives the more able pupils enhanced scope and freedom to try out and manipulate numbers in different ways, while giving that scaffolding to support the less able in the class. 

So, what now?

What have I learned from this experience? Well, with more than 10 years teaching under my belt, this action research brought me back to my roots.

I started from scratch with something and didn’t rely on my tried-and-tested resources. I had a chance to listen to my pupils and in doing so stumbled onto a way of thinking that works not just for a maths problem, but for all problems.

The steps have since become a classroom philosophy, and I use the vocabulary of the process daily. Trying something new can pay off!  

How to introduce Polya’s process 

  • Talk about the cycle and what each phase means. Take note that it’s like a roundabout, which means you can get off at any stop and go back if necessary.  E.g. If you’re carrying out your plan (phase three) but it’s not working, you can go back to phase one: understanding the problem.  
  • Use subheadings. I wanted the students to really spend time thinking about each phase, so I made a very simple Performa with each phase sub-headed. The students were required to write within each subheading. 
  • Model how to do it. Using different non-routine problems, I modelled how I would use the problem-solving phases. I then built up to working on problems as a class, and finally asked pupils to work in pairs to solve problems using the steps.  
  • Make it part of your classroom vocabulary. To embed the process in my class, the language didn’t just come out when doing maths problems, but was used in other subjects and day-to-day school life.   

Claire Coolin conducted this research project while teaching Year 5 at Oxford High Prep School, GDST with the Global Action Research Collaborative, ICGS. From September 2022 she will be a maths specialist teacher and PSHE head of department at Summer Fields School, Oxford.

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Play of the Wild

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. -Oscar Wilde

problem solving maths ks2

Outdoor Problem Solving Activities KS2- Learning Maths

aerial view of farmland

Outdoor Problem Solving Activities KS2 – Learning Maths Outdoors

These are some ideas for outdoor problem solving activities for KS2 to help children with learning maths outdoors. One of the most critical aspects of teaching and learning maths is to be able to solve problems. While teaching maths in school, I found that it can become easy to get overly focused on teaching the rules and procedures for doing maths. These are essential tools that everyone needs, but the actual point is to be able to apply those skills in real life. Therefore, children must be given opportunities to practice problem-solving and make it purposeful.

I hope you find these outdoor problem solving activities for KS2 useful, and perhaps they will also inspire you to try other ideas. If you would like some other ways to take learning maths outdoors, you may also want to see my post, Outdoor Maths Activities KS2 .

Nim is a mathematical strategy game where two players take turns removing objects from a pile. Each player must take at least one object per turn. The goal is to either take or avoid taking the last item from the stack. Children can play nim with a pile of sticks or rocks.

Ordering natural objects by different features

Children can place in order objects such as rocks or pinecones based on the characteristic(s) they decide upon. It might be longest to shortest, least to the greatest circumference or smallest to greatest volume.

Outdoor Maths Activities KS2 – Teaching Maths Outside. Measure and displacement. Finding the difference.

Observing the sun & moon

Children can explore and investigate the sun and moon, including changes that take place over time. They can try to figure out some of the following questions, and ask some of their own questions as well.

  • What time does the sun set and rise? Does this ever change? How do you know?
  • Where on the horizon do you first/last see the sun or the moon? Does this change? How do you know?
  • Can you observe the phases of the moon- how does it change? Are there any patterns that you notice?

photography of body of water and mountains

Measuring circles

Children can measure circles (such as flower pots, tree stumps or other circular objects found outside). They can measure the circumference, radius and diameter and then investigate the relationship between radius/diameter and circumference. What do children notice? Is there a pattern? They may even be able to ‘discover’ pi.

How tall is a tree?

Measure / calculate the height of a tree with the shadow & calculation method, triangle method and/or clinometer method.  If children try more than one method, do they get the same results?  Which method might be more accurate?

green leafed tree

(ex. Estimating by height, clinometer method, looking through legs method, pencil method, meter stick method)

Different ways children can help with planning in a garden

Children can figure out how much space is available in the garden and how many different types of plants can be planted. Can they figure out how many of one kind of plant will fit into one planter box? Can they figure out how many different sized plants fit into the same planter box? Children would need to use their measuring skills to calculate the surface area of the garden. Then they would need to find out how much space each plant requires (e.g. from seed packets) and then determine how many and which of the plants can be used.

growing broccoli with children. How to make a vegetable garden for kids.

If a new planter box is purchased, children can help work out how many bags of compost would be needed to fill it. (They would need to measure, calculate the size, etc.) Will there be any leftover soil from one of the bags? How do you know?

If children grow crops such as pumpkins, they can do things like ordering them from heaviest to lightest. This way they might see which is the ‘prize-winning pumpkin’ in a harvest festival.

Outdoor Problem Solving Activities KS2 – Learning Maths Outdoors. pumpkins by size

They might also consider how much each pumpkin could be sold for.  This would involve calculating each pumpkin’s cost, based on a price of £1.00 per kilo, £2.00 per kilo (or whatever reasonable price is determined). They might also try to figure out if larger pumpkins (or other crops like corn) always weigh more than smaller ones? *The children will have to define what is the larger, longer, or wider circumference.

Children could get involved with selling the crops they grow.  This will give them plenty of opportunities to use mathematical skills and handle money in real-life contexts. They will also need to plan the pricing of different vegetables based on weight, the number of vegetables, or selling them in combinations. Children could even try to figure out the appropriate amount to charge for each crop based on the cost of the seeds, the growing time, grocery store costs or any other factors.

vegetable stand. Outdoor Problem Solving Activities KS2 – Learning Maths Outdoors

If they do sell some of what they grow after school or possibly at a market, then the children can apply their maths skills to figure out how much each customer will need to pay when buying any particular fruit or vegetable.  

Monitoring Plant Growth

See if children can figure out how quickly different plants grow. Can they determine the rate of growth (e.g. mm per week)? Which seedlings / plants grow fastest? Is it a steady rate of growth, or does it change?

*To take this further, children might also conduct an experiment to compare different groups. They might compare the growth or the growth rate of plants whose seeds have been frozen vs those that have not, or something else.  

Making Shapes

How many shapes can you make (including shapes within shapes) using a set number of sticks (ex. 6 large sticks and 6 small sticks)? Is there a way to make more or fewer shapes using the same number of sticks?

Outdoor Problem Solving Activities KS2 – Learning Maths Outdoors

Planning and holding a bake sale

(Some parts of this activity take place inside and some outside. This activity can be linked further to learning maths outdoors if children use some ingredients grown from a school garden).

Baking for a bake sale is a great way to give children hands-on practice solving problems in real contexts. For a baking project they will need to follow recipes and accurately use measuring cups and weighing scales. They might also want to make larger quantities and scale up recipes by doubling, tripling, or quadrupling them. The children will need to plan ahead and calculate how much of each ingredient they need to buy to make a set number of cookies, cupcakes, etc. They must also determine how many batches would be needed to make 200 cupcakes if the recipe makes 2 dozen.

Then when they hold an actual sale they will be using their maths skills to calculate how much to charge people.  They must also learn how to give people the proper change (just like selling vegetables above). They can setup a stall outside of school and sell them after school one day. 

cute black girl showing homemade gingerbread man

Organizing and running a track & field event

Children can get involved in organizing a sports day or track and field event. They can first decide which events to include and then figure out how much space is needed for each activity (e.g. measuring the appropriate length and width required). The children can then help measure and set up the activities.

Once races are held, that data can be used to make calculations. For example – for a jumping event, children can measure how far people jump, and after several tries, figure out if there is improvement and how much (finding the difference). Children can time how far it takes them to run certain distances, e.g. 500 meters versus ½ a mile. They can figure out how fast they are running. They might then calculate how fast they ran different races (e.g. miles per hour) and then figure out when they ran faster or slower.  

fit athlete during training on running track

Finding ways to approximate measurements

See if children can find different ways to measure the approximate distance between two far points with a meter stick and string. This might be the length of the playground or the distance between two trees, etc. Children might compare different ways of measuring the approximate distance such as measuring the length it takes them to take one step and then counting the number of steps between two points. They might also use the string to go between the two points and measure the string’s length. See if they can find any other ways to find the approximate distances.

I hope that you find these outdoor problem solving activities for KS2 helpful and it helps you take teaching and learning maths outdoors!

Arithmetic , Gardening , Geometry , Maths , Measurement , Number & Place Value , School Age , Sticks

hands-on learning , Learning Outdoors , learning outside , outdoor learning , Sticks

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Developing Critical Thinking Skills At KS2 Using Same Surface Different Depth Problems: How I Wish I’d Taught Maths (5)

Clare sealy.

Clare Sealy looks at the struggles primary school pupils can have when implementing critical thinking skills when subject knowledge is lacking, and the effect this can have on their attempts at problem solving activities in KS2.

This article is part of a series published to help primary school teachers and leaders implement some of the insights and teaching techniques derived from Craig Barton’s bestselling book How I Wish I’d Taught Maths . Links to the other 5 articles appear at the end.

In the introduction to this series, I outlined how Craig Barton, in his book How I wish I’d taught maths,  described how he had changed his teaching as the result of reading research around learning and memory , in particular cognitive load theory in the classroom . In the latter part of his book, the focus turns to helping pupils use what they know.

Whatever the age of the children we teach, many find it hard to transfer what they know how to do in one context to another. This is most evident when it comes to maths problem solving , or in the SATs reasoning papers. They know the maths, they just can’t work out which bit of maths they need in this specific circumstance.

What are critical thinking skills?

At the basic level, critical thinking is the ability to analyse facts presented to us to form a judgement about a topic. It is an incredibly important skill to have at higher education and beyond, and is one of the key factors in astute decision making. 

Most of us explicitly encounter critical thinking and other higher order thinking skills such as metacognition in the classroom at either GCSE or A-Level, but laying their foundations at primary school is becoming more and more common and valued. 

However, “critical thinking and the ability to solve problems is not a generic skill that can be taught and that children can transfer from one problem to another. While there are some metacognitive strategies that can help a bit, what is really crucial is having a very secure understanding of the actual maths – the domain specific knowledge – that lies at the heart of the problem.” Daniel Willingham (2006)

Critical thinking (as well as scientific thinking and other domain-based types of thinking) is not a skill. There is not a set of critical thinking skills that can be acquired and deployed regardless of context. There are, however, metacognitive strategies that (once learned) make the critical thinking process more likely, and make up a key part of many quality first teaching methods .

The ability to think critically (to actually do what the metacognitive strategies call for) depends on domain knowledge and practice. For teachers, the situation is not hopeless, but no one should underestimate the difficulty of teaching pupils to think critically.

This said, metacognition is an incredibly valuable skill for pupils to have for any number of reasons, from helping low-ability students catch up to their peers to helping the whole class minimise the impact of the summer slide .

The metacognitive strategies mentioned involve reflecting on what you are doing during problem solving activities in KS2, asking yourself questions such as:

‘What am I doing?’

‘Why am I doing this?’

‘How does it help me?’

This is all very well if you have secure domain knowledge and can answer these questions. However, if you lack this knowledge, the questions are just frustrating.

Crib Sheet for How I Wish I'd Taught Primary Maths

Download the key findings from research; share with your staff, your SLT, and at your next job interview!

How to help your pupils develop critical thinking skills for problem solving activities throughout KS2

There are of course  problem solving strategies  we can give pupils to help them become better critical thinkers. For example, underlining the important words. However, this relies on pupils understanding what the important word are in the first place.

Often, irrelevant surface features seem important to pupils whereas we experts can see they are completely irrelevant, because our domain knowledge and experience of answering many, many questions means we can spot the deep underlying structure a mile off.

It’s the same with other strategies such as setting work out systematically (you have to know what system is likely to be helpful), working backwards (you have to know whether this is likely to be useful in this situation) or even using a bar model. Bar models can be so helpful, but you have to know whether or not this kind of question is suitable for the bar model treatment.

‘Same surface, different deep’ or SSDD Problems

Problem solving maths questions usually have an arbitrary surface structure and a deep structure. The surface structure involves the context in which the problem is set and has nothing to do with the actual maths; for example, in a question about buying tickets to a funfair, the funfair and ticket are part of the surface structure.

They are but the wrapper in which the real maths is wrapped. Pupils can get fixated on this ‘wrapper’, rather than the underlying deep mathematical structure held within it.

I recall a SATs question about paving inside a greenhouse. The child thought that they couldn’t do it because they didn’t know what a greenhouse was! Whereas I immediately knew that this was going to be an area question. The surface structure was transparent to me whereas, it was thoroughly opaque to the pupil.

All the underlining, systematic working or bar modelling in the world wouldn’t get past this erroneous latching onto surface features.

How to get past the surface features 

To overcome this hurdle, Craig recommends teaching children to recognise the deep structure of maths problems and how to identify and then disregard surface features.

It should go without saying that children need to be thoroughly secure in the underlying maths before attempting problem solving.

It is a mistake to think that maths problem solving is a good way of consolidating learning, let alone using it in the initial knowledge acquisition phase. Problem solving is about transferring learning from one context to another.

Problem solving at KS2 is about using your critical thinking skills to generalise

It therefore comes at the end of learning to do something, not mid- way and definitely not at the beginning.

But what is more, if at the end of a unit on, say division, we give children a load of division problems, this will not help them work out what the deep structure is. They already know; it’s division! This is fine, but it won’t help children learn to decide whether or not a particular problem requires division or not.

As well as problem solving activities at the end of units, teachers also need to allocate separate times where children have to work out what the deep structure of a problem actually is, regardless of surface features.  

This means setting a range of SSDD problems sharing the same surface features – for example a shopping problem involving apples and pears – but which each have a different deep structure .

Read more: KS2 Problem Solving and KS3 Maths Problem Solving

Translating this to a primary school context.

Let’s return to the question about stickers from the 2017 KS2 SATs paper we considered when considering goal free problems:

The surface feature here is stickers.

As experts, we know straightaway that we could substitute packs of stickers with boxes of apples or packets of balloons or even a family ticket to the cinema.

In fact, in a variation of Craig’s SSDD technique for a primary context, I’d suggest also doing DSSD problems (different surface, same deep) problems too, asking children to cross out the words ‘pack of stickers’ and replace with suitable alternative, and then repeat the problem to understand that the surface features do not change the underlying maths at all.

Then I’d suggest moving on to SSDD problems, with appropriate differentiation in the classroom . Let’s stick with stickers as our ‘same surface’.  

The deep structure of our original question involved knowing that you had to multiply to find the price of 12 separate stickers and then subtracting to find the difference. But we could ask mathematically different questions while keeping the context and visual look of the problem the same.

For example:

  • How much does one sticker cost? (though I’d adapt the price so the division came out as a whole number of pence)
  • Stickers are 8cm wide and 6cm high. Ally sticks 3 stickers in a row, without any gaps. What is the perimeter of the shape she has now made?
  • Ally buys 7 packs of stickers a month, Jack buys 3 packs of stickers a month and Chen buys 5 packets a month. What is the average number of packets bought by the 3 children in one month?
  • Ally buys a pack of 12 stickers. She has spent 15% of her birthday money. How much birthday money has Ally got left? (again, I would adjust the price into something more workable)

Another great way to translate problem solving into a primary context is through topical maths investigations.

Extension ideas for problem solving activities in KS2

Extending both ideas, we could make a grid where the rows contained questions with a different surface structure and the columns contained questions with the same deep structure. This grid could be cut into individual boxes with pupils having to sort each box accordingly, to reconstruct the grid.

Tigers, Cake or Money? A unique approach to critical thinking

One questioning in the classroom strategy for helping children understand the deep structure of division problems, is to ask children if this is a tiger, cake or money sort of division question.

What this means is, could we swap the surface features of the problem we are given to one involving tigers, or cake or money?

Why these three I hear you ask?

This is because, where division problems do not divide exactly, it is really useful to:

  • Be able to decide if you need to round up or down (These are the tiger questions. If you haven’t got enough cages for your tigers you might get eaten)
  • Have a remainder that’s a fraction (These are the cake questions as we can each have 1 and a half cakes)
  • Or have a remainder expressed as a decimal (These are the money questions as we can have £2.47 each)

An example of a Tiger question

This is a great example of a tiger question. With 4 spare tigers, you need to have an extra box! Having 2/3 of a box wouldn’t work, neither would having 0.666 of a box. Rewriting this as a tiger question helps understand the deep structure.

A cage holds 6 tigers

How many cages are needed to hold 52 tigers?

How to make a trickier Tiger question

Here is a slightly harder ‘tiger’ problem:

Let’s rewrite this:

A zookeeper has 7,600 tigers (!)

Cages can contain 500 tigers.

How many cages does the zookeeper need?

The answer:

15.2 cages is obviously not enough to stop the keeper from being eaten.

Answers requiring a decimal answer are usually money questions already, or calculations rather than word problems. Hence they are easy to categorise.

Some children find ‘tiger’ type questions particularly hard, and give answers that don’t make sense because they haven’t rounded up or down. So in the brick example above, they give the answer as 15.2 because they haven’t recognised that doesn’t make sense.

By naming certain deep structures, children are more able to identify them when they arise, and this is a fantastic way to help children with problem solving activities throughout KS2.

Sources of Inspiration

  • Willingham, D.T. (2006) ‘How knowledge helps: it speeds and strengthens reading comprehension, learning and thinking’. American Educator 30 (1) p.30

This is the fifth blog in a series of 6 adapting the book How I Wish I’d Taught Maths for a primary audience. Some have already been mentioned in this post, but if you wish to read the remaining blogs in the series, check them out below:

  • Direct Instruction: How I Wish I’d Taught Maths (2)
  • Deliberate Practice In Education: How I Wish I’d Taught Maths (4)
  • How Retrieval Practice Helps Long-Term Maths Skills: How I Wish I’d Taught Maths (6)

Do you have pupils who need extra support in maths? Every week Third Space Learning’s maths specialist tutors support thousands of pupils across hundreds of schools with weekly online 1-to-1 lessons and maths interventions designed to address learning gaps and boost progress. Since 2013 we’ve helped over 150,000 primary and secondary school pupils become more confident, able mathematicians. Learn more or request a personalised quote for your school to speak to us about your school’s needs and how we can help.

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Developing Mathematical Thinking - Primary Teachers

Successful mathematicians  understand curriculum concepts, are fluent in mathematical procedures, can solve problems, explain and justify their thinking, and have a positive attitude towards learning mathematics. 

Exploring, questioning, working systematically, visualising, conjecturing, explaining, generalising, convincing, proving... are all at the heart of mathematical thinking. The activities below are designed to give learners the opportunity to think and work as mathematicians.

For problems arranged by curriculum topic, see our  Primary Curriculum  page For problems arranged by mathematical mindsets, see our  Mathematical Mindsets  page

problem solving maths ks2

Conjecturing and Generalising at KS2

These tasks will encourage children to conjecture and generalise.

problem solving maths ks2

Reasoning and Convincing at KS2

The tasks in this collection can be used to encourage children to convince others of their reasoning, by first convincing themselves, then a friend, then a 'sceptic'.

problem solving maths ks2

Conjecturing and Generalising at KS1

problem solving maths ks2

Reasoning and Convincing at KS1

The tasks in this collection can be used to encourage children to convince others of their reasoning, using 'because' statements.

problem solving maths ks2

Working Systematically at KS1

These problems will challenge your learners to work systematically.

problem solving maths ks2

Working Systematically at KS2

problem solving maths ks2

Trial and Improvement at KS1

These lower primary tasks could all be tackled using a trial and improvement approach.

problem solving maths ks2

Trial and Improvement at KS2

These upper primary tasks could all be tackled using a trial and improvement approach.

problem solving maths ks2

Working Backwards at KS1

The lower primary tasks in this collection could each be solved by working backwards.

problem solving maths ks2

Working Backwards at KS2

The upper primary tasks in this collection could each be solved by working backwards.

problem solving maths ks2

Visualising at KS1

These lower primary tasks all specifically draw on the use of visualising.

problem solving maths ks2

Visualising at KS2

These upper primary tasks all specifically draw on the use of visualising.

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    Problem Solving Games These resources provide fun, free problem solving teaching ideas and activities for primary aged children. They will help children to reason mathematically, a vital skill if they are to learn to solve problems. Bead Numbers - Place Value Bead Numbers is a place value investigation involving a tens and ones abacus.

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