Storytelling and mathematics don’t naturally go together. The best way to spark a discussion about a math topic in a classroom can be unpopular with many students: solving word problems. Word problems ...

These student-constructed problems foster collaboration, communication, and a sense of ownership over learning.

This story was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet focused on education. The Hechinger Report is a national nonprofit newsroom that reports on one topic: education.

Word problems try and tell students a story about the math problem in front of them. They are a useful way to connect abstract numbers to concrete situations, so students can learn early on to apply ...