2. About S.L.A.T.S.  St Landry Accelerated Transition School is a GED/Options school where students, who have fallen at least two grade levels below their peers, attend with the aspirations of receiving a GED and/or Skills’ certificate.

3. About S.L.A.T.S.  Students who attend SLATS must transfer from a school within the state and must be at least 15 years of age. SLATS is a two year program for regular education students, however, special needs students who possess an IEP can remain in the program until they age out at 23.

4. About S.L.A.T.S.  However, very few students remain past the two year mark, and none have exercised the option of remaining with us till they are 23 years of age.

5. About S.L.A.T.S.  According to the 2007-08 school report card, of the 312 students who attend SLATS: 72% were Black, 27% were White, and 1% were listed as other not identifying any ethnic group. 90% of the students receive free or reduced lunch.

6. About S.L.A.T.S.  41% of the student population has special needs and I.E.Ps. Community wise, 43% of the adults over the age of 25 posses no high school diploma and St Landry parish has a poverty rate 2.5 times greater than the nation average.

7. Assessment Instrument  Test of Adult Basic Education

8. What is assessed?

12. GEORGE POLYA was one of the most famous mathematics educators of the 20th century (1887 – 1985)

13. DR. POLYA BELIEVED THAT THE SKILL OF PROBLEM SOLVING SHOULD BE TAUGHT. He identified four principles that form the basis for attempting to solve problems Before Polya, the consensus was that some people were just born problem solvers.

14. Four principles for problem solving 1. Understand the problem 2. Devise a plan 3. Carry out the plan 4. Look back (reflect)

15. Understand the problem · What are you asked to find out or show? · Can you draw a picture or diagram to help you understand the problem? · Can you restate the problem in your own words? · Can you work out some numerical examples that would help make the problem more clear?

16. Devise a plan (Strategies) Guess and check Solve a simpler problem Make an organized list Experiment Draw a picture or diagram Act it out

17. Devise a plan (Strategies) Look for a pattern Work backwards Make a table Use deduction Use a variable Change your point of view

18. Carry out the plan · Carrying out the plan is usually easier than devising the plan · Be patient – most problems are not solved quickly nor on the first attempt

19. Carry out the plan · If a plan does not work immediately, be persistent · Do not get discouraged · If one strategy isn’t working, try a different one

20. Look back (reflect) · Does your answer make sense? Did you answer all of the questions? · What did you learn by doing this? · Could you have done this problem another way – maybe even an easier way?

21. Implementation AT THE END OF THIS LESSON STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO: · Apply Polya’s four principles of Problem Solving · Increase their use of Problem Solving Strategies · Approach Problem Solving more confidently · Solve problems using various strategies

22. Polya’s Problematic Polygon Draw a picture or diagram Experiment Guess and check Work backwards MAKE AN ORGANIZED LIST

23. Put the numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 in the circles to make the sum across and the sum down equal to 12. Are other solutions possible? List at least two, if possible. Guess and check

24. MAKE AN ORGANIZED LIST Three darts hit this dart board and each scores a 1, 5, or 10. The total score is the sum of the scores for the three darts. There could be three 1’s, two 1’s and 5, one 5 and two 10’s, And so on. How many different possible total scores could a person get with three darts? MAKE AN ORGANIZED LIST

25. DRAW A DIAGRAM In a stock car race, the first five finishers in some order were a Ford, a Pontiac, a Chevrolet, a Buick, and a Dodge. · The Ford finished seven seconds before the Chevrolet. · The Pontiac finished six seconds after the Buick. · The Dodge finished eight seconds after the Buick. · The Chevrolet finished two seconds before the Pontiac. In what order did the cars finish the race? Draw a picture or diagram

26. EXPERIMENT The figure below shows twelve toothpicks arranged to form three squares. How can you form five squares by moving only three toothpicks? Experiment

27. WORK BACKWARDS Ana gave Bill and Clare as much money as each had. Then Bill gave Ana and Clare as much money as each had. Then Clare gave Ana and Bill as much money as each had. Then each of the three people had $24. How much money did each have to begin with? Work backwards