Max Maths, Year 6, Learn together, Word problems (1)

In a Year 6 mathematics lesson focused on solving word problems, students are encouraged to develop their problem-solving skills using real-world scenarios. The lesson presents a situation where Padma's total mass, including her books, is given as 28.36 kg. The task for the students is to determine Padma's mass without the books, given that the books weigh 1.68 kg. To approach this problem, a model is drawn to visually represent the given information and the unknown quantity – Padma's mass.

The lesson guides students through the process of finding the solution by subtracting the mass of the books from the total mass. To ensure that the calculations are manageable, an estimation technique is employed first, rounding the numbers to the nearest tenth before performing the subtraction. The estimation yields a result of 26.7 kg. Following this, the precise calculation is carried out, leading to a more accurate answer of 26.68 kg. This result is verified against the estimate to confirm its reasonableness. Thus, students conclude that Padma's mass, excluding the books, is 26.68 kg. The lesson emphasizes the importance of estimation and checking the reasonableness of answers when solving word problems.