How to Help Your Child Solve Maths Problems Using MAPS

When Education Minister Desmond Lee tested Parliament with a PSLE maths question earlier in March this year, many parents could probably relate. Your child brings home a word problem, asks for help, and you wonder where to begin.

You do not need to supply the answer. Try guiding your child through MAPS:

M — Make sense of the question
Ask your child to read it aloud and explain it in their own words. What do we know? What are we trying to find?

A — Arrange the information
Highlight or underline the important numbers and draw a bar model or diagram if it helps. The visual should show how the quantities relate, not just repeat the numbers in the question.

P — Plan and solve
Ask, “What can we work out first?” Let your child explain why they chose a step before doing the calculation. For a longer question, solve one part at a time.

S — See if it makes sense
Check the calculation, working and units. Does the answer fit the story? If it does not, return to the diagram and find where the reasoning changed.

If you are stuck too, try saying, “Let’s draw what we know and work it out together.” Your child gets to see that maths involves making sense of a problem, testing an idea and checking it—not simply knowing the answer straight away.

Next time a difficult question comes home, try MAPS together. Which step helps your child most?