Students often struggle to connect math with the real world. Word problems—a combination of words, numbers, and mathematical operations—can be a perfect vehicle to take abstract numbers off the page.

Consider someone who’s perfectly content with their office chair. It’s not ergonomic, it doesn’t have lumbar support, but it works. Then, during a meeting or a visit to a friend’s office, they sit in ...

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 ...