My kids really, really struggled applying and solving proportion problems. We reviewed. We tested. We (by we, I mean "I") decided to review the next day and retest again.
I was so frustrated. These were topics we had spent days and days and weeks and weeks on. We reduced ratios. We found "the best buy" in comparing prices. Every day our warm up problems were pictures of actual items sitting on a store shelf.
Once the context changed ever so slightly, my kids really struggled. It was as if they had never seen any such problem. I was really frustrated. Sooooooo, I decided we needed an extra day of review and another test.
I was amazed at the results. It wasn't just that my kids scored better. They did. But, they solved the problems in such unique ways. My kids finally started thinking "outside the box" to solve the problems. They solved their problems uniquely, not like any way we talked about in class. And yet, their methods were sound. Exceptionally sound. They couldn't remember the method we talked about, but they "invented" their own.
Excellent.
The trick is going to be to do it all again tomorrow.
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