more fromwww.mathsisfun.com
more fromwww.iknowthat.com
more fromwww.shodor.org
more fromwww.shodor.org
more fromwww.ptolemy.co.uk
Furbles was originally devised as an innovative way of imagining statistics and the depiction of statistics. As a trainee teacher there seemed to be a clear difference between students' ability to interpret graphs and their ability to generate graphs. My interpretation of this difference was that students were learning to create graphs algorithmically, but were not taking time to consider what the graphs actually represented; they did not see how a graph expressed an internal relationship within the data. The idea of Furbles was to bring the graphs and the data that they represented together in a very fundamental way.
more fromwww.ptolemy.co.uk
more fromwww.ptolemy.co.uk
more fromwww.ictgames.com
Classic Middle-Grades Problems for the Classroom
This lesson presents two classic problems (Mangoes Problem and Sailors and Coconuts) that can be represented and solved in several different ways. Middle-grades students work in groups on the problems to promote communication of mathematical ideas, and a variety of classroom solution attempts are described. This lesson plan was adapted from an article, written by Jerry Stonewater, which appeared in the November‑December 1994 issue of Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
* apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve problems
* monitor and reflect on the process of mathematical problem solving
* communicate their mathematical thinking coherently and clearly to others
Materials
The Mangoes Problem Activity Sheet
The Sailors and Coconuts Problem Activity Sheet
Instructional Plan
The Mangoes Problem
Read the mangoes problem to the students.
One night the King couldn't sleep, so he went down into the Royal kitchen, where he found a bowl full of mangoes. Being hungry, he took 1/6 of the mangoes.
Later that same night, the Queen was hungry and couldn't sleep. She, too, found the mangoes and took 1/5 of what the King had left.
Still later, the first Prince awoke, went to the kitchen, and ate 1/4 of the remaining mangoes.
Even later, his brother, the second Prince, ate 1/3 of what was then left.
Finally, the third Prince ate 1/2 of what was left, leaving only three mangoes for the servants.
How many mangoes were originally in the bowl?
Before students actually solve the problem, ask them to discuss, in groups, possible strategies for solving the problem. Possible strategies include:
* guess and check
* draw a picture
* work backward
* write an equation (use a variable)
Distribute the The Mangoes Problem activity sheet so students may see the text of the entire problem and have a place to show their work.
The Mangoes Pro
more fromilluminations.nctm.org
Notation: * = Private bookmark and comment|… = Clipping [?] | … = Public highlight [?]
interactive (48)iwb (30)numeracy (25)fractions (17)for:room22legends (14)maths_games (13)resources (13)for:weadawe (10)for:terriirvine (10)for:sherylmickan (9)for:mjburton (9)games (8)for:suekiely (8)shapes (5)science (4)calendars (4)decimals (3)problem_solving (3)tessellations (3)
