Your thinking process …

Whatever strategy you choose, you need to be able to explain your thinking to someone else in an organized way. There are steps you can follow to organize your work and your thinking so others will understand. Consider this problem:
The Jones family went on vacation in July. They wanted to get to Grandma’s house in 2 days. They drove from San Diego to Los Angeles (100 miles) in the morning, and from LA to Las Vegas in the afternoon (300 miles). They wanted to reach Salt Lake City (800 miles) by the end of the second day. How far will they drive on day 2?

First, your T.I.P. … Thought, Information, Plan
Restate the question being asked or the problem in your own words.
"I need to find out …; The problem is… "

I need to find out how far the Jones family will drive on day 2 of their vacation.

Tell what important and relevant information is needed to solve the problem ~ even what is being assumed. Look for key words.

On day 1 they drove 100 miles in the morning and 300 miles in the afternoon.
It is 800 miles from San Diego to Salt Lake City.

Then tell what strategies and operations you plan to use to solve the problem.

I am going to make a chart of their mileage each day. I will be using addition and subtraction to solve the problem. I will need to do the problem in several steps.

Next, do the work ~ and show ALL your calculations – even the ones you can do in your head. Keep your work neat and organized. You should even label your numbers so your thinking is very clear.
Don’t forget to state your solution in a complete sentence when you finish. not “The answer is …” but “There are ______ miles left to travel.” Relate the solution directly to the problem.

Day 1 100 miles + 300 miles 100 + 300 = 400 miles day 1
Day 2 ? 800 – 400 = 400 miles day 2

The Jones family will have to travel 400 miles on day 2 to reach Salt Lake City.

Thirdly, explain your thinking process. Step by step take the reader through your calculations and tell WHY you used those operations and strategies as you solved the problem.

I started by adding how many miles the Jones’ drove from each city to find out how far the family traveled in the first day. They drove 100 miles from SD to LA and 300 miles from LA to Las Vegas. 100 + 300 = 400. I added because I needed to get the total miles for day 1. They drove 400 miles the first day. Next I looked at how far it was from SD to Salt Lake City – 800 miles. I knew I needed to subtract 800 – 400 (day 1 miles) because I needed to find out how much farther they needed to drive, and they had already gone 400 miles on day 1. 800 – 400 = 400. They had 400 miles left to drive on day 2.

The last, and most challenging part of problem solving is applying what you learned and relating this to the real world. What did you learn from this problem? How might you use this strategy or thinking process another time? The best way to explain this will be to create another problem that is similar to the first problem that you might face sometime: "I learned how to ...; I might use this strategy ...; One day my family ... . "

I learned how to break a problem down into smaller steps to solve it. I might use this same strategy the next time my family drives on a trip. My cousins live in Arizona. Dad told me their house is 650 miles away from mine. If we drive 50 miles in the morning and 150 miles in the afternoon on the first day, and we want to get there in 2 days, I can figure out how far we will drive the second day. 50 + 150 = 200 and 650 – 200 = 450. We will need to drive 450 miles the second day.

Now you are ready to begin the tasks!