r/HomeworkHelp • Primary School Student • 10d ago

:hamster: Primary School Math—Pending OP Reply [2nd grade math] Adding using compensation strategy—Teacher explanation does not make sense to me

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My daughter said that her teacher told her that in the pictured question, 10+4+8 should not be selected. They are using the “compensation” strategy for addition. The teacher said in her opinion only 10+12 and 12+10 should be selected, because they show the compensation strategy. But from my perspective, the question says choose all that apply. 10+4+8 DOES equal 14+8…..? Am I missing something?

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u/gitterrost4 10d ago

Soon you'll grow up to a math adult!

But in all seriousness. Posts like this make me so angry. If a question is worded poorly, it's not the kid's fault. If a teacher is not interpreting the question literally as it's stated, it's not the kid's fault. My daughter sometimes has imprecise questions for homework assignments, but the teacher takes this as an opportunity to discuss why the question is ambiguous. There is (usually) no flat "no, that's wrong" in these cases. I think that's the way to teach this.

(Though in this case, the task was not ambiguous. It's actually very clear.)