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Vanessa Wong

Asked 9 years ago

SG Primary 5 Number and Algebra

Another question which I see many students struggling with. This is just a 4-steps solution. It is that simple and this method replaces the 'listing' method which students learn in lower primary.Mrs Tan has some lollipops. If she gives 6 lollipops to each of her students, she will have an excess of 4 lollipops. If she gives 8 lollipops to each of her students, she will need another 12 lollipops.a) How many students does Mrs Tan give the lollipops to?b) How many lollipops does Mrs Tan have?

Replies 8

Raymond Ng

Vanessa Wong, actually with the right reasoning, the solution is merely 1 step for each part ☺ a) (4+12) ÷ (8-6) = 8 students b) 6 × 8 + 4 = 52 or 8 × 8 - 12 = 52 lollipops My students in P6, P5 or even P4 have no problem understanding the reasoning behind such questions. Just for sharing. Tks.

6 years ago

Vanessa Wong

Thanks for sharing. Yes, some students can accept the 1 step solution but some may need a little bit of explanation. :)

6 years ago

Phyllis Tan

I can understand better now, thks!

6 years ago

Vanessa Wong

You are welcome!

6 years ago

Idy Tan

Thanks for sharing and I certainly can explain to my kids better now!

6 years ago

KL Gan

Raymond Ng, sorry to ask, Your (4+12) is it actually 4-(-12)? If i were to write a statement, how can i go about it for the answer 16. Thanks

6 years ago

Raymond Ng

The reasoning is actually pretty simple. I've not met a kid who can't understand fully after explaining it once. Here we go: To give 2 more (8-6) lollipops to every student, we need 16 more (4+12) lollipops (4 existing ones plus need to get 12 more). So to give every student 1 more, it's evident how many more lollipops we need. And that number is none other than the number of students present. Don't you agree? There's no rocket science in this and many other Pri Sch problems. What we as educators need are the tool to explain to the kids the logic behind the method, and kids can grasp them faster than what most of us adults would tend to believe...

6 years ago