Description
High-cognitive demand problems help build students' mathematical reasoning and conceptual understanding. Open-ended problems encourage flexibility with numbers and serve as a great math assessment. This task is great for 3rd grade or 4th grade math classrooms!
Why?
High-demand tasks aid with working memory, abstract reasoning, logic, metacognition, and all of the mathematical process skills. Students are creating neurons by DOING math. Plus, it's very fun.
Read a more thorough blog post about this here.
What?
This task has students choosing books to buy for the school. Each book has a price per book (multiplicative thinking). There are rules for what types or books to choose and how many of each type but no specific numbers. Students will all be working on their chosen numbers.
Includes:
Instruction sheets
Book choice charts for fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels
Total calculation sheets
Comparison sheet
Students will choose books, multiply to get the cost, add up their totals. Then, they will decide how much money is left over. Finally, they will compare their totals and leftovers to a neighbors.
Who?
2nd-4th grade students that have conceptual understanding in additive and multiplicative thinking.
How?
Print the half sheets for students. Staple to make a book. These include instructions, cost calculation sheets, and comparison sheets. Then print, copy, and distribute the book sheets (fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels). Students should work in partners or groups. Go over the instructions together and allow students to begin DEEP thinking.
If you have students who struggle, give them some smaller number parameters.
Highlights
Description
High-cognitive demand problems help build students' mathematical reasoning and conceptual understanding. Open-ended problems encourage flexibility with numbers and serve as a great math assessment. This task is great for 3rd grade or 4th grade math classrooms!
Why?
High-demand tasks aid with working memory, abstract reasoning, logic, metacognition, and all of the mathematical process skills. Students are creating neurons by DOING math. Plus, it's very fun.
Read a more thorough blog post about this here.
What?
This task has students choosing books to buy for the school. Each book has a price per book (multiplicative thinking). There are rules for what types or books to choose and how many of each type but no specific numbers. Students will all be working on their chosen numbers.
Includes:
Instruction sheets
Book choice charts for fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels
Total calculation sheets
Comparison sheet
Students will choose books, multiply to get the cost, add up their totals. Then, they will decide how much money is left over. Finally, they will compare their totals and leftovers to a neighbors.
Who?
2nd-4th grade students that have conceptual understanding in additive and multiplicative thinking.
How?
Print the half sheets for students. Staple to make a book. These include instructions, cost calculation sheets, and comparison sheets. Then print, copy, and distribute the book sheets (fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels). Students should work in partners or groups. Go over the instructions together and allow students to begin DEEP thinking.
If you have students who struggle, give them some smaller number parameters.
