The purpose of this activity is to engage students in solving problems using integer values.
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.
To make a frozen banana dessert, Mad Martha drops a banana into a flask of liquid nitrogen, which she measures to be at a temperature of 68°K.
The Kelvin, K, is a unit of temperature that starts at zero (which is the same temperature as -273°C) and goes up at the same rate as degrees Celsius.
What is the temperature of the liquid nitrogen in the flask, in degrees Celsius?
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.
The student forms and solves appropriate equations with integers in order to find the solution to the problem.
Click on the image to enlarge it. Click again to close.
The student finds a method solves a problem with integers. The student uses visual representations of negative numbers, such as number lines, graphs or thermometer diagrams.
Printed from https://meaningfulmaths.nt.edu.au/mmws/nz/resource/going-bananas-0 at 8:52pm on the 26th February 2024