Don’t Just Give an Answer—Prove It!
You solved the problem. Now show why your answer makes sense.
A correct answer is only the beginning.
Strong mathematicians make a claim, show evidence, and explain their reasoning.
Make a Claim
Clearly state what your group discovered.
Your claim should answer the question and tell the reader exactly what you believe is true.
“We found the answer.”
“We found every solution that follows the rules of the problem.”
Show Evidence
Use mathematics to support your claim.
Your evidence might include:
4 × 6 = 24
4 groups × 6 students = 24 students
Explain Your Reasoning
Connect your evidence to your claim.
Do not only list the steps you completed. Explain why your strategy works.
“We multiplied because that is what we did.”
“We multiplied because the situation contained equal groups of the same size.”
Helpful words: because, since, if, then, therefore, and this shows.
Put the Three Parts Together
Use this frame when your group is ready to explain.
Our group determined that .
Our shows that .
This supports our claim because .
The Convince-Me Check
Before your group says, “We’re finished,” check your explanation.
- We answered the actual question.
- We showed our mathematical work.
- We labeled our numbers and representations.
- We explained why our strategy works.
- We followed every rule in the problem.
- Every group member can explain the solution.
Make Your Thinking Visible
Your board should show the complete story of your thinking.
An answer tells what you found.
An explanation proves why it works.
Student Response
Think about your group’s most recent Thinking Math activity.
- State the claim your group made.
- Identify one piece of mathematical evidence.
- Explain why that evidence supported your claim.
- Describe something your group could have explained better.
- Explain what you will do differently next time.
13 Responses
1. Group Claim :The plant grows at a steady rate of 2.5 centimeters per week.
2.Mathematical Evidence: The height increased from 5 cm to 10 cm between week one and week three, showing a constant slope of 2.5 cm per week (\(10 – 5 = 5\), and \(5 \div 2 = 2.5\)).
3.Why Evidence Supported the Claim: The slope value matches the predicted growth rate in the claim.
4.What Could Have Been Explained Better: The group omitted how measurement errors might affect the slope calculation.
5.What to Do Differently Next Time includes a discussion on potential data errors.
The claim that our group made was we determined multiplying to get the correct amount.One piece of mathematical evidence is trying different ways to get the same evidence.That evidence supported my claim because there is more then one way to get a specific answer.Something our group could have explained better ways the way we tried to explain how we got our answer.What we can do differently is try more ways to get the same answer and explain how we did it better.
Yesterday during our Thinking Math lesson, we made a multiplication chart with four and six to represent the cars and vans. Then we calculated how many cars and vans we needed to fit 120 kids. After we did one we used what we had to figure out the rest. One thing we should have done was look the numbers carefully. in the end we only found two ways to fit all the kids.
Our group figured out that our answer was correct and followed the rules of the problem. We used our math calculations to help prove that our answer made sense. This supported our claim because our numbers matched the information in the problem. I think we could have done a better job explaining why we chose the strategy we used. Next time, I will explain my thinking better and make sure everyone in my group understands it.
Our group maintained that we had determined the correct quantity through multiplication. One mathematical way to verify this is by attempting different methods to arrive at the same result. This evidence supported our claim, as there is more than one way to obtain a specific answer. One aspect our group could have explained better is the process we used to reach the answer. In the future, we could try more methods to achieve the same result and provide a clearer explanation of the procedure followed.
Most recent thing we did is how we trying to fly some where with 4 people and 15,000 so me and my group are going to Spain we got to find an and a plane the plane we are taking is Alaska airlines and now we got to find things to do because where going to be out there for 7 days where going to try there food and see if it good or not go on the bus might go to the pool and swim go walking and ask all the people what are things to do in Spain the part of Spain where going to is Madrid.
Our group figured out 5 ways to fit 120 students in cars and vans. With only cars being able to fit 4 people per car, 6 people per van. So we did a lot of multiplying and one division and this evidence claims that there is not only just one solution in mat problems. Then we used our past lessons to figure those out and also we just tryed multiple equations until we found the right one.
Our group figured out that our answer was correct and followed the rules of the problem. We used our math calculations to help prove that our answer made sense.We created a multiplication chart using four and six to symbolize the vehicles and vans during yesterday’s Thinking Math session. Next, we determined the number of cars and vans required to accommodate 120 children. We used what we had after completing one to solve the remaining ones. We need to have taken a closer look at the numbers. Ultimately, we were only able to accommodate every child in two different ways.
1)The claim my group made was making the same number with different evidence we had to make 120 with only fours and six’s.
2)The mathematical evidence my group made was on the whiteboard the it go erased.
3)The evidence was that my group made seven answers then all of it got erased.
4)some thing my group could have done better is nothing in reality because we didn’t have to explain anything we just solved math problems.
5)The thing’s I can do next time is solve more math problems.
Our group claims that we could fit 120 students by splitting them up in half and one group into 10 vans and the other group into 15 cars. Our math calculations show us that splitting them into groups helped us to find the solution and we also made a 4 and 6 times table to help us.The reason why this supports our claim is because find every solution that follows the rules of the problem. Our group could have explained better how we ended up with this answer .Something I could have done differently was to write on the white board to explain our answer better than last time.
Our group claim is that we need to fit 120 students in both car and van and it has to be 6 students in a van and 4 in a car.Also another problem we have is that we have to use both of them at least once. One of the of the things we can do is we can make a multiplication chart that can help if we put the obvious on the top and we can multiply it by whatever we need to multiply it by. The answers we can get are 10 vans and 15 cars if we multiply 6 by ten and 4 by 10. Then we get 100 students and that’s not enough so we can multiply 4 times 5 that equals 20 and 20 + 100 is 120 and that is how much students we need so that is how we got our first problem. So to simplify it the answer is 15 cars and 10 vans that is are group claim and how we got our first problem so that means we need
The claim that our group made was we determined multiplying to get the correct amount.One piece of mathematical evidence is trying different ways to get the same evidence.That evidence supported my claim because there is more then one way to get a specific answer.Something our group could have explained better ways the way we tried to explain how we got our answer.What we can do differently is try more ways to get the same answer and explain how we did it better.
The claim our group made is that the answer to the question was 52. We showed mathimatical evidence such as the way we got the answer on our paper by dividing. The evidence supported the claim because it proved that we didn’t guess the answer and instead worked to get it which proves our final answer. Our group could have explained our process of dividing better. What we could do differently next time is working more as a team instead of leaving one person to do it.