Background:
As with any profession, you often see the world through that filter. Ever read Math Curse? I’m there all the time (unless we’re spinning things into a reality show). When I see something, I try to quantify things. Sometimes I play around with turning things into math problems for class though nowhere near some of the stuff you see from people like Dan Meyer.
This week a friend at work (Brian is worth a follow) tossed me the name of Cliff Pickover given the wide range of things he posts on mathematics (some serious, random questions and facts, etc.) As I looked through Cliff’s feed yesterday, two posts caught my attention, and I took a few minutes to spin them into something we could use in the classroom. I thought I would share them with you here.
Problems:
Problem one is a modeling problem based on the increase in capacity of microSD cards, perfect for kids to make and compare linear and exponential models.
Problem two is a stats problem based on the bones in the human body and relates it to quartiles. Great for Statistics and Algebra classes due to Common Core and the shift in some of the questions on the ACT and SAT.
Both problems lend themselves to some additional research which was part of my intent in the design, lending themselves for warm ups if you are one-to-one, problems of the week, to give as homework, etc. Feel free to tweak the problems to give the additional information – a Word version, you can see all the problems here. If you do make changes or have questions/comments about why I set them up, please comment below. Thanks!
