Can You Lot Score The Towers?

Recently, I've been trying to discovery a means to organize many of the amazing resources I've flora online thus I tin move them to a greater extent than easily inward the future.  Don Steward's blog is an absolute treasure trove of activities together with interesting problems for whatever mathematics classroom.  A few weeks ago, I went through every unmarried 1 of his spider web log posts together with took regime annotation of all of the activities that aligned amongst my Algebra 1 standards.  There were H5N1 LOT of them!  

One of the activities that caught my optic was called "Equal Sharing."  Students are given a develop of towers together with asked to brand all of the towers direct hold the same height.  You must maintain the same issue of towers.  The only affair you lot tin alter is the organisation of the blocks.  

I took Don's activeness canvass that featured 10 problems, stuck it inward a publisher file, enlarged it to fit on 11" x 17" paper, together with added a championship amongst a cute font.  I printed the puzzle on roughly 11" x 17" cardstock (affiliate link) that is amazing for creating activities that tin easily live on worked on past times multiple students at the same time.  It also makes pretty awesome posters!     

Then, I stuck each activeness into 1 of my novel 11" x 17" dry out erase pockets (affiliate link) to brand the activeness reusable.

I allowed students to piece of work on this activeness inward groups of ii or 3.  A few of my students chose to piece of work alone.  The bulk of students were inward pairs.

I didn't give them many details earlier I allow them loose.  I instructed them that their challenge was to rearrange the blocks thus that each tower was the same height.  They had to cease amongst the same issue of towers that they started with.

Even though I told students earlier nosotros started that they had to cease upwardly amongst the same issue of towers that they started with, I silent flora myself answering that enquiry over together with over together with over.

It was interesting to sentry students test to convince their partners that they had a superior strategy equally I circulated.

H5N1 few minutes into the activity, I saw students changing upwardly their strategy.  At the showtime of the problems, the students were mark out boxes together with moving them 1 at a time.  This worked, but students before long flora it tedious.  Instead, the students started counting all of the boxes inward all of the towers.

I stopped past times a grouping only afterward they reached the determination that in that place were 28 blocks inward the towers.  With a perplexed hold off on my face, I asked them why that data was useful.  The grouping informed me that because they knew how many towers they needed to cease upwardly amongst that they could direct hold the issue of blocks together with only split upwardly past times the issue of towers.

I practise direct hold to acknowledge that non all of my groups made this realization.  Some were enough happy to hold using the same method that worked over together with over together with over.

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When my students got to enquiry 6, they began to instruct confused.  Really confused.

My students who were rearranging the blocks 1 at a fourth dimension flora themselves left amongst 4 extra blocks together with 8 towers.  How does that work?

Some groups decided to cutting the 4 blocks inward one-half together with distribute 1 one-half block to each tower.  The groups that were adding upwardly the blocks together with dividing past times the towers seemed to direct hold less problem amongst this problem.  Many groups, however, got frustrated together with gave upwardly when the work didn't piece of work out evenly.

After the groups had fourth dimension to travail MOST of the problems, I began a shape discussion.  I asked the groups to percentage their strategies.  One pupil inward each shape would convey upwardly the fact that they had flora a shortcut.  They together with then proceeded to pull how they had added upwardly all the blocks together with divided past times the issue of towers.

After they finished explaining, I asked them what mathematical concept matched upwardly amongst what they had only done.  It was thus exciting to encounter their eyes calorie-free upwardly equally they realized they had only flora the mean!

I promise that my students walked away from this lesson amongst a meliorate agreement of what the hateful is instead of only knowing the steps to brand it at the mean.

Thanks Don Steward for this awesome activity!

I direct hold uploaded my eleven x 17 sized file of Don's activeness here.

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