The need to prepare children for their times tables test often means that we overlook building their reasoning and problem-solving skills. This is to allow time to develop number fluency and recall.
However, NRICH’s curriculum-linked activities enable your learners to become more fluent alongside developing their reasoning and problem-solving skills.
In this maths problem solving questions lesson you’ll work through NRICH’s Shape Times Shape worksheet to practise and develop some of these underused skills.
Maths problem solving questions KS2 learning objectives
- Times tables facts
- Reasoning skills
- How to think about finding a way to a solution
- The idea of a symbol (in this case a shape) representing a number
Start here
Make sure all the children can see the Shape Times Shape worksheet. You could display it on the board or give out copies of the printable sheet.
Try to say very little as you introduce the task. Just review what the problem itself states, then give learners a few minutes to think on their own.
NRICH is a maths outreach project, which is a collaboration between the Faculties of Education and Mathematics, based at the University of Cambridge. NRICH resources are free for teachers to use with their classes.
