On the Tenth Day...10 Digital Tools to Engage Students in Word Problems

On the 10th Day of Christmas, F.I.T. gave to me 10 digital tools to engage students in word problems.
 

Most kids hate these 2 words, word problems. For many they are very unmotivated to solve them because they are boring and difficult to understand. Students are usually use to teachers giving them a word problem and having them use some type of word problem plan to solve it.

To motivate and engage my students in solving word problems, I used apps that I knew would get them interested in solving them. Each of these apps provide students with the opportunity to become engaged in learning and practicing word problems.

The apps below motivate students to learn through storytelling, analyzing, and demonstrating. Students take photos or draw pictures to tell the story of the word problem. Screenshots can be taken of students solving their word problems. Voice recordings can be added to explain their process.

1.     SonicPic (free lite version, $2.99 full version)

2.     Storyrobe ($0.99)

3.     iMovie

4.     Toonastic

5.      Sock Puppet

6.     ScreenChomp

7.     Story kit (free)

8.      IdeaSketch (free)

9.      ComicLife

10.  StoryPatch

 You can use any one of these Storytelling Apps to engage your students in word problems and get them excited about learning. Implementation is very easy. Give each students a word problem, have them create a story around the problem, solve the problem, and incorporate the answer into the story.