Fractions of an amount - Interleaved problem solving

Fractions of an Amount: Interleaved problem solving

I have completely changed my approach to helping my students develop the ability to solve problems. I use example-problem pairs and intelligent, varied practice to introduce a topic, purposeful practice to develop my students' understanding, diagnostic questions to develop fluency and deeper understanding, before finally turning my attention towards two types of problems. The first are those with the Same Surface but Different Deep structures (or SSDD problems, as I call them), and my collection so for can be found at ssddproblems.com. The second are interleaved problems, whereby the core topic is included alongside topics and concepts studied previously. This serves the dual benefit of keeping other topics fresh in students' minds, whilst also illustrating that maths is an integrated, connected subject, and not the isolate bunch of abstract topics it can sometimes seem to be.

I describe my process for using interleaved problems in Chapters 9 and 12 of my book, How I wish I'd taught maths.