This course is separated into four modules of learning:
Module One: What is the Bar Model?
In this module, we will build your awareness and understanding of what the bar model is. We will show you how the bar model can be used in a conceptual way, using mathematical equipment, and how this supports the connection between concrete and pictorial thinking. We will work through a word problem so you can understand how the information from the word problem is represented using the bar model.
Module Two: How the Bar Model Supports with Problem Solving
Module two explores how the bar model is a problem-solving tool. There are many ways we can tackle a problem in mathematics, and the bar model is one of these. We will draw evidence from research which supports using multiple representations for problem-solving and explore some of the characteristics we use when solving problems. Finally, we will look at a question that we can practise using the bar model with.
Module Three: Using the Bar Model with Arithmetic Word Problems
In this module, we will continue to explore how the bar model is a problem-solving tool. There are many different types of problems we could explore using the bar model but in Module Three we will focus on four: part-whole model problems, problems involving discrete and continuous quantities, and more challenging problems.
Module Four: Using the Bar Model with Comparison Problems
In this final module, we will explore how the bar model can support what we call comparison problems. There are two types of comparison situations: additive comparison and multiplicative comparison. In situations involving comparison models, a quantity is compared to another. For these types of problems, we use the bar model in a different way to previous types of questions.
Study time: 60 mins
