Before the second intervention activity, I taught students how to set up and solve
proportions (section 7-2). During the 7-2 activity I had students read the example problem: “If
Jamie buys 18 shirts every 2 years, then how many will she have after 7 years?” (Appendix 3)
After the problem there were four explanations of how and why to solve the problem. I wanted
students to read multiple examples on how to explain a problem so that they might be able to
create ones themselves at the end of the intervention. I chose to give the students four different
explanations of varying quality so that they had to weigh the pros and cons of each explanation
and get a better idea of what makes a good explanation. Then there were leading questions,
helping students to rank the explanations in order from best to worst. Students ranked the
explanations and explained in writing why they ordered them in that way. Students then talked
with their partner about what they thought about their explanations and wrote if their opinion
changed.