Problem-Solving Strategies
Year 6 students develop and apply a toolkit of problem-solving strategies including working backwards, drawing diagrams, making tables, and finding patterns to tackle unfamiliar problems.
What You Need to Know
Key Concept Diagram
Reading a problem carefully and identifying key information is the first step in problem solving
Drawing a diagram or model can make abstract problems visible and easier to reason about
Working backwards from the answer is useful when the final result is known but the starting value is not
Checking the answer against the original problem confirms whether the solution is correct and sensible
Key Vocabulary
Strategy
A planned approach or method used to solve a problem
Working backwards
Starting with the known result and reversing each step to find an unknown starting value
Diagram
A visual representation that helps organise information in a problem
Conjecture
An educated guess or prediction based on patterns observed
Knowledge Check
Select the correct answer for each question. Click "Check Answer" to see if you are right.
Question 1
After giving away half her stickers and then buying 8 more, Mia has 20 stickers. How many did she start with?
Question 2
How many handshakes occur if 5 people each shake hands with every other person exactly once?
Question 3
Tiles are laid in a pattern: row 1 has 1 tile, row 2 has 3, row 3 has 5. How many tiles are in row 8?
Key Concepts Summary
- ●Reading a problem carefully and identifying key information is the first step in problem solving
- ●Drawing a diagram or model can make abstract problems visible and easier to reason about
- ●Working backwards from the answer is useful when the final result is known but the starting value is not
- ●Checking the answer against the original problem confirms whether the solution is correct and sensible