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Teachers.Net Lesson Plans
#106. problem solving
Mathematics, level: Middle
Posted by Mike Allison (g_allisonmt@titan.sfasu.edu).
Carlisle High School, Price, Texas
Materials Required: 6 foot long piece of nylon cord - 1 piece for each class member
Activity Time: 15 minutes
Concepts Taught: following sequences of steps to solve math problems
Have each student take the string with an end in each hand. Have each student tie the string in a knot wiothout turning loose of either end of the string. after they try futilely for a few minutes, you show them a method for tying the string in a knot. You tie the string in a knot, but you do not show them one step that you do without them seeing the step. Without that one step, you cannot tie the knot, but after they try for a few more minutes, you show them the missing step. The missing step is that you do have to turn loose of one end of the string without anyone seeing it. Your application would be the fact that if you leave out one step, you cannnot complete the task. After discussing that concept for a while, you continue by discussing the ways to describe to someone how to tie a knot in a string. From there you go to word problems and begin to look for the proper steps to solve them.
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