This is incredibly interesting to me, and points to a problem in our schools.
We traditionally teach children to solve problems that have solutions. In particular, eighth grade teaches pre-algebra and algebra, so the way students approach problems is directly connected to how the student decodes the language of a "word problem".
We need to change our conceptual understanding of what learning actually requires, and give students a situation in which they must write the problem themselves. Instead of "decoding" a predefined word problem, the student then must explore the situation and interpret the available information.
A good way to handle this problem is to allow students to write word problems for other students based on a set of data, and subsequently create the "answer key" that includes the mathematical proofs. Proofs should be taught from a much earlier age.
We traditionally teach children to solve problems that have solutions. In particular, eighth grade teaches pre-algebra and algebra, so the way students approach problems is directly connected to how the student decodes the language of a "word problem".
We need to change our conceptual understanding of what learning actually requires, and give students a situation in which they must write the problem themselves. Instead of "decoding" a predefined word problem, the student then must explore the situation and interpret the available information.
A good way to handle this problem is to allow students to write word problems for other students based on a set of data, and subsequently create the "answer key" that includes the mathematical proofs. Proofs should be taught from a much earlier age.