This problem solving activity has a geometry focus.
Captain Blackheart buries his treasure but loses his treasure map! But all is not lost. His trusty crew remember different bits of the map.
"I remember drawing it with 5 squares each way", says the Captain.
"There was a row of three trees running due East from the square (1,1)", Peg Leg Pete says. "You put each one of them on a different square."
"Weren’t there four granite boulders going due South from (5,5)?" John asks. "I think you put one of them each in a square too."
"Ah!. Now I remember!" yells the Captain. "I buried the treasure half way between the first rock and the most western tree!"
Where is the treasure?
This is a problem about drawing and interpreting maps. It lays the foundations for understanding graphs and Cartesian geometry, which is important in the later years of schooling.
Captain Blackheart buries his treasure but loses his treasure map! But all is not lost. His trusty crew remember different bits of the map.
"I remember drawing it with 5 squares each way", says the Captain.
"There was a row of three trees running due East from the square (1,1)", Peg Leg Pete says. "You put each one of them on a different square."
"Weren’t there four granite boulders going due South from (5,5)?" John asks. "I think you put one of them each in a square too."
"Ah!. Now I remember!" yells the Captain. "I buried the treasure half way between the first rock and the most western tree!"
Where is the treasure?
Ask students to write clues for their own treasure map. You could provide a 5 x 5 grid for students to use (paper or digital) and make links to instruction writing. Pose these as a challenge for other students to solve.
We have put all the information from the story on the map below.
The treasure is in (3,3).
Printed from https://meaningfulmaths.nt.edu.au/mmws/nz/resource/treasure-map at 8:56pm on the 26th February 2024