The purpose of this activity is for students to apply metric units of length, volume, and mass to solve a problem in context.
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.
Your beloved Rottweiler, Rex, is kidnapped by an international gang.
The criminals ring with a ransom demand.
You are to drop off $1,000,000 in US $100 notes at a discrete location.
The money must be packed tightly into one briefcase.
Is that possible?
If you can, how much will the briefcase weigh?
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 finds a way to enclose $100 banknotes into a briefcase without considering how the number of notes might be maximised and calculates the mass of the banknotes using appropriate place value.
Click on the image to enlarge it. Click again to close.
The student uses a systematic strategy to find the optimal dimensions of a briefcase so the maximum number of notes can be arranged in each layer.
Printed from https://meaningfulmaths.nt.edu.au/mmws/nz/resource/rex-s-ransom at 8:52pm on the 26th February 2024