How To Use A Problem Pass Activity
The Problem Pass Activity is surprisingly effective and is often the quietest fifteen minutes in class. The initial instructions to students can be a bit confusing, but once they understand where to pass their problem, it works smoothly. I love that this activity is self-checking so students have immediate feedback and more practice on the way.
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Activity Directions:
Students work with a partner while seated at their desks. They should write in their own notebook or on a blank answer sheet.
At the same time the first pair of students is working on Problem 1, the second pair works on Problem 2, the third pair works on Problem 3, etc. At the teacher’s signal, all students pass their problem in a specific direction. The students who started with Problem 2 should now pass it to the students who started with Problem 1, the students who started with Problem 3 pass it to the students who started with Problem 2, etc. The first pair of students starting with Problem 1 should deliver their finished problem to the last pair of students, or the teacher may prefer to deliver these each time.
Students now flip over their new page to find the ANSWER to the problem they just finished.
Students continue to work problems in order, pass problems and check their answers on the back of the next problem page until they have completed all problems included in the activity.
It is important for the teacher to tell the entire class when to pass their first problem and to tell everyone where to look for the first answer on the back of their NEXT problem. After this first pass together, I’ve allowed students to work and pass problems at their own pace. Teachers may prefer to set a timer so all students pass their current problem to the next pair of students simultaneously.
Teacher Setup:
The Problem Pass format is flexible as it allows any type of problem with any type of answer. You can choose to use any number of problems as long as you print two or three sets to allow enough for each pair of students to work at the same time.
To make a problem pass activity, write or type one problem per page and write or type the answer to the problem on a separate page. As a convenience for the students, show the original problem in a smaller font at the bottom of its answer page so they can see the actual problem again.
Slide pages into plastic page protectors to keep problems and answers together and to discourage students from writing on them. For an activity with 10 problems, put Problem 1 and ANSWER Problem 10 back-to-back in the same plastic page protector; put Problem 2 and ANSWER Problem 1 back-to-back in another plastic page protector, Problem 3 and ANSWER Problem 2 together, etc. Prepare 2 or more complete sets of the activity to have enough pages for each pair of students in the class. Keep complete sets in order.
It is very important to hand out problems in numerical order so the page with the answer on the back follows its problem number. As you hand out problems in order, problem side up, tell each pair of students the direction they should pass their problem when finished. This direction may vary by row if you zig-zag or “snake” up and down the rows of desks. The first pair of students starting with Problem 1 should deliver their finished problems to the last pair of students, or you may prefer to deliver these each time.
Students should write their answers in their own notebooks or you can provide a blank answer key (without numbers), especially if they need graph paper.
The instructions above are confusing, so you may wish to download the free Problem Pass Activity below to see an example. In this download, you will also see I provide a paper-saving option by using half pages for teachers, but instructions for creating this option are too complicated to explain above.
Click on the cover below to download this free Problem Pass activity.
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Free Algebra Activity
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For an explanation of a typical day’s list of activities, please see my articles “What To Do With Faster Students” and "A Typical Day In My Flipped Algebra Class". For more about additional activities, see "Some Of My Favorite Algebra Activities", "How To Use A Placemat Activity", "How To Use A Sum It Up Activity", and "How To Use A Quiz Quiz Trade Activity".
