Mathematics Improvement Project

MaST Project

This year, students will be explicitly taught the Bar Model; a tool used for problem solving.

What is a Bar Model?

In Mathematics, a bar model can be defined as a pictorial representation of a number in the form of bars or boxes used to solve number problems. Bar models help us to attain an understanding of how a problem needs to be solved and calculated. 

Here, for instance, one rectangle or box of the bar model represents a value of 6. We have to find 3 times the value of one bar.

Bar models help us to understand what operations, whether addition, subtraction, multiplication or/and division should be used to solve a word problem.  

Here’s how we can represent different operations using bar models.

Some examples from Stage 3:

Abigail

Harry

Ethan