When I walked into the classroom on Tuesday there was immediately a problem on the board that we all had to solve independently. The problem was like so... If there is a dartboard with three sections labeled with the numbers 1, 5, and 10, how many different sums can you obtain if you hit the board using three darts.
The first way that I tried to tackle this problem was to make a list of all the possible outcomes starting with the number one.
After I did this, I moved onto the number 5, and then onto the number 10.
In this list I had a section labeled what the sum of the numbers added together was, to make sure that I had no repeats.
The list ended up looking like so....
Then after we all figured out the problem using our own methods, the class discussed the importance of using clear tables when solving problems.
The next problem that we did in class was a word problem. The word problem had five different types of cars, all finishing a race at different times. We were given clues on how to figure out the order in which the cars finished the race.
In this problem I tried to solve it in my head and was thinking to myself that there had to be a better way to solve this problem. After I talked to the girls that were sitting at the table with me, I saw the best way to solve this problem. Using a number line...
Using a number line is a great way to solve problems that have a time factor in them, because they can also act as a time line, using the tick marks to indicate seconds.
The last problem that my class did on Tuesday was one that I was more familiar with, It was an algebra problem.
There were four hexagons attached together side to side, and we needed to figure out a way to calculate the perimeter of the hexagons, without counting the sides.
The way that I solved the problem was by counting the sides of the beginning and ending hexagons, since there were five sides showing on both of them, and two end pieces, I mulpiplied 5x2. Then I counted the middle pieces, and how many sides they had showing, and multplied 2x4.
Then I added together (5x2)+(4x2) and got an answer of 18.
Then we talked as a class, and I herd of other ways that people solved this problem. Some people started out with knowing that each hexagon had to have at least four sides, and then added the sides necessary from there. Like so....
There were four total hexagons so they started out with 4x4. Then they knew that the two end hexagons had one extra side, and added two to their original total.
(4x4) + 2 = 18
And then someone else did the same process, but started out with six sides on each hexagon and subtracted the necessary sides. The way that they figured out how many to subtract was by how many sides the middle hexagons shared, then multiplied that number by two, because there were two sides being shared.
(6x4) - (3x2) = 18
Thursday, January 17th
On Thursday in class we started to learn about sets, and we started off with Venn Diagrams.
We learned some Venn Diagram lingo first to better understand how to group items together.
A u B = (A union B) is the set of everything in set A or B, or Both.
A n B = (A intersect B) is the set of what set A and B both share, what they have in common.
The term Complement means opposite, and is expressed by a line over the set.
From this information we broke into small groups and began to play a game using different sizes and shapes.There were two teams, and a Venn Diagram. We had to pick a card to express the set that was going to be placed in each circle of the diagram.
On your blog describing Thursday's in class activities, I love that you included pictures along with your descriptions so that if I wasn't 100% clear on what you were trying to convey, the pictures immediately let me know what you were stating. The pictures are a wonderful visual aid. Also, I enjoyed how you put the definitions in so that everything was clarified!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite thing about this blog is that you included pictures from class along with the cards and scenarios that could be chosen. Along with the cards you then showed how it would look laid out in class in the correct way in the venn diagram. This is a great blog to show someone who has never done the activity before because your explanations were very easy to understand and took it step by step along side the pictures. I never thought about taking pictures of what we actually do in class as well to put on our blogs, that is a great idea!
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog. I liked that you took pictures of the different activities and problems we did in class that way you could add them here to your blog. The way you explained your thinking in each problem was very helpful for me to get to understand how others think when it comes to different sorts of problems. The way that you put together the algebraic problem with the side by side hexagons really blew me away. I did not think of that idea until it was shared in class and it really took me off guard. I did the 4*4 and added the 2 end sides at the end of the problem just because that is the way I was taught. It amazes me what different strategies each of us were taught during all of our years of schooling. As for the venn diagram activity that we did within our group, I really did enjoy the activity. It was helpful for me to get to understand better how the Union and Intersection work while working with others. It helped me see what others peoples thoughts were on this type of problem and how they went out of their way to figure it out. I enjoy your pictures of the activity giving us readers a feel of what it was like in the classroom. All of your pieces in this blog are great, but those two are the pieces that stood out the most for me. Thank you for sharing this blog with the class! I look forward to reading more of your blogs in the future!
This blog post was awesome! The visual aids were so helpful, and I absolutely love that you used pictures from class! I will have to remember that for when I am doing blog posts! Your explanations were great, and refreshed my memory of what we had done in class this week as well as provided me with further information on the venn diagrams, which I had a few issues with. Your drawings of the hexagon problem, and the car race problem were also very helpful, and I enjoyed those pictures as well Great job!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your blog very much. All of the problems that you explained had great visual aids which were helpful when you were taking the reader through how to solve each problem. I also liked how you explained all of the types of problems that we cover this week.
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