Variations in Both-Addends-Unknown Problems

Abstract

M any years ago, an interesting problem that had been implemented in a primary-grade classroom sparked a conversation among the three authors of this article. The problem was a classic both-addends-unknown story problem, one of twelve distinct types of Both-Addends-Unknown word problems that kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade students are expected to solve, according to the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) (CCSSI 2010) Operations and Algebra domain (see fig. 1). Student thinking processes and the relative problem difficulty of the other eleven types

Comparing the frequency and variation of additive word problems in United States first‐grade textbooks in the 1980s and the Common Core era

“…The categories we used are consistent with the 11 categories in the taxonomy of one-step, additive word problems in the CCSSM (NGA & CCSSO, 2010). The CCSSM scheme lists 12 problem types as a result of the addition of Both Addends Unknown problems to the scheme (Champagne et al, 2014). Because those problems have a different mathematical structure and were not included in the Stigler et al (1986) study, we did not include them in our coding.…”