Sunday, October 13, 2013

MTBoS prompt 1

This fall, the Math Twitter Blogosphere is having another challenge to help bring bloggers together.  I'm writing on the prompt about a good open ended problem.  I use this one as a warm up.  The challenge is to connect 9 dots with 4 straight lines without lifting up your pencil and with out retracing


I don't give them the answer, someone has to get it.  Sometimes this takes until later in the lesson and I just wait.  There is always someone who wants to get it bad enough to keep at it.  Here's the answer


This problem requires you to think outside the box, literally and figuratively.  I like to try to get them to realize that the fun of math is in the ah-ha moment, not just repeating what I say, and I think this problem is good for that.
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3 comments:

  1. UnknownOctober 13, 2013 at 6:42 PM

    I have seen this one. It is a great warm-up because it gets the kids to think that the answer is not always just right in front of them. I love seeing their faces after you show them to extend the line outside of the given dots!

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  2. UnknownOctober 13, 2013 at 11:00 PM

    Thanks for the reminder about this question. We are collecting questions that provoke good conversation and encourage perseverance.
    Appreciate the solution!!!!

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  3. AnonymousOctober 13, 2013 at 11:46 PM

    Great task, Lea Ann, and everyone wants to try it! I think one of the processional effects is that students begin to look for uncommon solutions in the future. Keep up the good work!

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