Planning The first time I saw this problem I had my student hat on. As a participant in in group setting at one of the NYSED/CUNY Teacher Leader of Mathematics Institutes I attended, my fellow group members and I were tasked with solving a version of The Painted Cube. Note: If this is your first … Continue reading The Painted Cube
This classic problem is a great way to make connections to the language of mathematics, specifically around the meaning and uses of variables. The pdf above links to a chapter from A Collection of Math Lessons from Grades 6 through 8 by Marilyn Burns and Cathy Humphreys. The chapter has extensive teacher notes with lots … Continue reading The Border Problem (on the meaning and use of variables)
Infographics are everywhere and our students need to develop literacy skills to make sense of them. This resource is a very good way to kickstart an exploration of infographics in your classroom and one you will keep going back to throughout the year. The California Academy of Sciences has put together an Infographics in the Classroom Teacher … Continue reading Welcome to Infographics! A Toolkit to Get You Started
With this problem, I hope to observe how students will organize data and if they are able to recognize patterns. I also wanted to see what counting techniques the students might use to find all of the possible outcomes. Some of my students have experience developing harts and graphs, while others are new to these … Continue reading The Ice Cream Combinations Problem
I like this problem because I think it’s a good one for introducing problem-solving strategies with a new influx of students that had just begun my class. Because the computational skills required to successfully solve the problem are low, I felt this would remove an anxiety barrier some of my newer students may present with. Additionally, I had just … Continue reading The Sum and Difference Problem