Colloquium

Word problems are a perennial bugaboo of the mathematics curriculum, to the extent that jokes about them circulate on the internet. It should not be this way: word problems are potentially an excellent vehicle to teach students not only mathematics, but how to think. However, achieving such a goal will require a teaching corps that is very comfortable with word problems - with analyzing them, creating them, varying them, and especially, leading class discussions focused on word problems. This talk will describe an approach to helping teachers achieve the needed comfort.