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In all my years of teaching I have only met one teacher, Carol Gambill, who thoroughly understood the effectiveness of "solution keys."
Solution keys are not the same as "answer keys." A real solution key does not skip any of the steps required to reach the final answer. Solution keys never try to trick the student, or force the student to fill in missing gaps, or require the student to extrapolate. Solution keys provide the student with an ideal solution, every step spelled out.
When creating solution keys the teacher must sit down, and with pencil in hand, thoroughly write down every step required to solve the problem. What ends up on the page are the steps students are required to take to successfully solve the problem, with written comments under each step, or off to the side, adding explanation.
Let me see if I can create both a good and bad example.
Problem: Jerry and Jenny have $1.50 in cash. Jerry has twice as much as Jenny. How much does each have?
|
Solution: X = Jenny
X = $1.50/3 X = $ 0.50 2X = $1.00 X = Jenny Jenny has $.050 2X = Jerry Jerry has $1.00 |
Commentary: X is the unknown amount that Jenny has. 1X = $ 0.50 2X = $0.50 multiplied by 2, or $1.00 Jenny = 1X Jenny has $. 0.50 Jerry = 2X (two times .50) Jerry has $1.00 |
| X = Jenny 2X = Jerry 3X = $1.50 X = .5 Jenny = .5 Jerry = $1 |
The reason that solution keys are ignored is that they require
a lot of extra work on the part of the teacher. However, they
are very effective when used with homework. Armed with solution
keys, and problems that follow the solution keys step by step,
students have a great deal of success. Little is more frustrating
than the modern crop of textbooks that present no solution keys,
and then a bunch of unrelated and dissimilar problems. The work
is left to the teachers who really wants to consider themselves
"good."
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: SOLUTION KEYS © October, 2004 by Rory Donaldson. All rights reserved. In order to help reverse the tide of academic failure and optimize success, individuals may copy brainsarefun solutions for non-commercial use at no charge. Contents may not be sold or repackaged in any manner without the written permission of Rory Donaldson. Since all material is copyrighted, please ensure that this entire copyright notice and contact information continues to be attached to each article you download. Mr. Donaldson appreciates the feedback. Additional solutions may be viewed and downloaded at no charge by logging on to brainsarefun.com. Titles are being updated, edited and added regularly. To view most recently added titles you may click here.
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