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Problem Solving Sept 2001 (v 26.1)
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Shape Scavenger Hunt GRADES K–2
When your students return to school in the fall it is the perfect time
to challenge them to a Shape Scavenger Hunt. Provide each student with
a clipboard, paper, and pencil. Tell the students that they are going
to tour the school to find and record shapes they discover. It is a
great excuse to get acquainted with the school by visiting the
principal’s office, the school nurse, and even the custodian’s closet
in search of shapes.
An additional activity would be to
create a class graph. The items placed on the graph are the children’s
drawings of the square, rectangular, triangular and circle objects they
have discovered.
Please send us any samples or photos
of students work and share with us what they learned by using this
activity.
Scale and Pattern Blocks GRADES 3–5
Provide students with pattern blocks and have them each create an
animal, using any of the pattern blocks they want to use. Then have
them give their animals names that would be appropriate.
Next have students determine the area of their animals and
identify the scale used, that is, which pattern block represents an
area of 1 square unit. (You may want younger students to use the small
triangle, while older students should determine their own scale.)
A creative resource, Pattern Blocks, lets the students work with pattern blocks while on line.
Send examples of student work to the ComMuniCator Panel along with students’ explanations of their design(s).
Scale and Pattern Blocks GRADES 6–8Provide
students with pattern blocks and have them each create an animal, using
any of the pattern blocks they want to use. Then have them give their
animals names that would be appropriate.
Next have students determine the area
of their animals and identify the scale used, that is, which pattern
block represents an area of 1 square unit.
Then tell students that they must
proportionately increase their animals in size, using a scale of 1:1.5.
Explain that this means the new figure will look like their original
figure, but will be 1 1/2 times bigger. After students have worked on
this problem, discuss the various ways students chose to determine the
new size.
A creative resource for this problem may be found at Pattern Blocks.
The Panel is interested in examples of
work including written explanations of the problem-solving techniques
used by the students. Send examples of student work, along with
students’ explanations of their design(s), to the ComMuniCator Panel.
Optical Illusions GRADES 9–12
Optical illusions defy the belief that “seeing is believing.” Ask your
students to research optical illusions on the Internet or in the
library. They may come across some famous optical illusions like the
one pictured below.
Which segments are connected?
For
this issue’s problem, ask students to create their own optical illusion
drawings. They may also create a work of art that is a drawing of an
object that would be impossible to build in three dimensions.
Send examples of student work to the ComMuniCator Panel along with students’ explanations of their designs.
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This Page was last updated: Saturday, March 6, 2004 at 11:31:51 AM
This page was originally posted: 6/30/2002; 9:48:11 PM.
Copyright 2008 cmcmath
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