[WCYDWT] Car Talk, Ctd.

Alex Eckert:

I don’t feel that my presentation of the problem did anything to make it any more interesting for the students. I think what interested my students was them doing the following: 1) discovering on their own that it’s not 5 inches, 2) each taking a guess at what the actual length was, 3) understanding that THEY could figure out if their guess was correct or not.

Check out Alex’s third entry. On the challenge / rigor side, every student is working on the same mathematical operations. On the investment / engagement side, every student is performing those operations on a guess to which she is personally attached. Who loses here? Nobody.

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I'm Dan and this is my blog. I'm a former high school math teacher and current head of teaching at Desmos. He / him. More here.