These push and support questions were written to be used with the Commission Problem from Unit 2 of the CUNY HSE Math Curriculum Framework. We recommend giving one question out at a time and only if students need them to keep working productively.

The first few questions are for students who need support with the main problem: How many fish tanks would they each need to sell so that they bring in the same amount of money?

The rest of the questions are extensions for students who find a solution to that question.

We don’t intend that all of these questions be discussed as a large group, but rather that each keeps all students working productively on the problem.

I also wrote an article on using push and support questions for the Math Practitioner (Volume 22, Issue 3, Summer 2017), the publication of the Adult Numeracy Network (ANN). You can read the article (and get future newsletters) if you become a member of ANN for a paltry annual fee of $15. Join us!