icturing a problem often is the key to helping students understand the problem and identify a solution.
We teach students many problem-solving strategies, but probably the most powerful and flexible problem-solving strategy is, "Make a picture or diagram." Picturing a problem often is the key to helping students understand the problem and identify a solution. Pictures or diagrams also can serve as prompts to help students keep track of what they need to find out in multi-step problems.
BAR MODELS:
REPRESENTING A WHOLE PROBLEM
WITH A FEW SIMPLE IMAGES
Many students try to picture a problem by drawing all the details of the problem. Have you had students laboriously illustrate problems like this? Does the answer tend to get lost in the details?