A modified Frayer Model for comprehending Math word problems

Give a grade five student a problem like 227 / 15 = ? A student would jump to solve this instantly.

Give the same student this problem - "A square plot can have only 15 saplings planted in a row. You are given 227 saplings to plant. How many will you be left with?" The student would struggle to comprehend the problem.

From my experience of seeing middle school students learning Math, they find computation easy. However most of the students struggle with comprehending Math word problems (story problems), which Math operation should be applied when and where and Math vocabulary.

I happened to read Faye Bruun, Joan M. Diaz, & Valerie J. Dykes. (2015). The Language of Mathematics. Teaching Children Mathematics, 21(9), 530–536. The article mentions using a modified Frayer Model to familiarize Math vocabulary as one of the methods used in the Action Research.

To address the problem of students having the difficulty to associate the 'specific words' with Math operations, I propose Math educators could try the below Frayer Model, further modified. It is implicit that Math educators should ask a small group of students to come up with their own association of words with Math operations for better learning rather than readily supplying these words.

I am yet to experiment this when I get a chance. I would encourage Math educators to use this or further modified versions for better learning outcomes.