Represent the structure of a problem with two unknowns in context | Maths

Starter quiz

Two rods are equivalent to the yellow rod. One of them is red. What is the missing rod?
- A- White
- B- Red
- C- Light green ✓
- D- Pink
Two rods are equivalent to the yellow. One of them is white. What is the missing rod?
- A- White
- B- Red
- C- Light green
- D- Pink ✓
Two rods are equivalent to the black rod. What could the missing rods be?
- A- Red and pink
- B- Light green and red
- C- Pink and light green ✓
- D- Pink and pink
Two rods are equivalent to the brown rod. What could the missing rods be?
- A- Dark green and light green
- B- Red and dark green ✓
- C- White and black ✓
- D- Yellow and light green ✓
Two rods are equivalent to the orange rod. There is a difference of red between the rods. What rods could they be?
- A- Dark green and light green
- B- Yellow and dark green
- C- Dark green and pink ✓
- D- Yellow and black
Two rods are equivalent to the yellow. One rod is four times the size of the other rod. What rods could they be?
- Red and pink
- Red and white
- White and pink ✓
- White and light green

Exit quiz

An efficient strategy is a when a problem can be solved:
- quickly
- accurately
- quickly and accurately ✓
The bar model shows two values a and b. What is the value of a?
- '45' ✓
The bar model shows two values c and d. What is the value of c?
- '55' ✓
Calculate the size of e in the bar model.
- '46' ✓
A supermarket sells 90 burgers and sausages altogether. They sell 40 more sausages than burgers. How many sausages do they sell?
- 50
- 55
- 60
- 65 ✓
Andeep is travelling to see his relatives. The whole journey is 182 km. He travels by train for 36 km further than he does by bus. How far does he travel by train altogether? ______ km
- '109' ✓

Worksheet

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Presentation

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Lesson Details

Key learning points

Problems can be represented using bar models.
Problems can be solved using trial and improvement.
Different strategies work for different problems.

Common misconception

Pupils opt for a trial and improvement approach, without working systematically either.

Encourage pupils to identify the structure of the problem and represent the maths in a way that makes sense for them. You can then take their representations of the maths and refine them so they are more efficient.

Keywords

Systematically - Working systematically means to solve a problem in an ordered and methodical way to ensure all outcomes are recorded.
Efficient - To solve something efficiently means to solve a problem quickly whilst also maintaining accuracy.