The purpose of this activity is to engage students in solving a problem using measurements that are not in a compatible format.
This activity assumes the students have experience in the following areas:
The problem is sufficiently open ended to allow the students freedom of choice in their approach. It may be scaffolded with guidance that leads to a solution, and/or the students might be given the opportunity to solve the problem independently.
The example responses at the end of the resource give an indication of the kind of response to expect from students who approach the problem in particular ways.
Andrew wants to store his caravan in a shed with clearance of 2.25 m to get into the shed.
The caravan body is 1.85 m high and is on wheels of diameter, 40 cm. He is going to fit a dome ceiling window in the roof of the caravan.
What is the maximum height the dome could be, so that he can still use the shed for storage?
The following prompts illustrate how this activity can be structured around the phases of the Mathematics Investigation Cycle.
Introduce the problem. Allow students time to read it and discuss in pairs or small groups.
Discuss ideas about how to solve the problem. Emphasise that, in the planning phase, you want students to say how they would solve the problem, not to actually solve it.
Allow students time to work through their strategy and find a solution to the problem.
Allow students time to check their answers and then either have them pair share with other groups or ask for volunteers to share their solution with the class.
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The student calculates correctly to solve the problem, within the context given.
Printed from https://meaningfulmaths.nt.edu.au/mmws/nz/resource/andrew-s-caravan at 8:51pm on the 26th February 2024