Math is Flexible, Creative and Fun!
I always knew math had several different ways to get to the same answer, but why did teachers only want one way for our work to be done? Was this to make sure we didn't create any errors along the way? To keep it consistent for everyone in the class? Who knows, but today is the day we make room for creativity and flexibility within the math environment!
Students in math often get discouraged if they do not understand a formula that they are not comfortable with. Now, I know- challenging yourself to figure out a question makes your brain smarter and stronger BUT when students provide different methods to get to the same answer, this shows flexibility!
Finger counting challenge on one hand! If we were to count 1 on the thumb, 2 on the index finger, 3 on the middle finger, 4 on the ring finger, and 5 on the pinky. We then would turn around and count 6 on the ring finger, 7 on the middle finger, 8 on the index finger, and 9 on the thumb. Then we turn around again and count 10 on the index finger, 11 on the ring finger and so on.
If we count this way, which finger are we on when we
count the number 1000?
Below are two ways we solved this problem in our group and at if you click this link you can see a video describing this activity and other students ways to solving this problem. I think these types of questions are fun to get the class thinking in groups and work together to figure it out. In the end it is interesting to see the different ways students came to the same conclusion.
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| Strkalj, N. (2017). Problem Solving. (Personal Photo) Retrieved from Personal Library. |
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| Strkalj, N. (2017). Problem Solving. (Personal Photo) Retrieved from Personal Library. |
In our forum posts we were asked to solve the following equation 18 x 5=? It was interesting to see that my teacher candidates had different approaches to answering this question but all of them lead to the same answer, 90! I think allowing students to show their own way of solving a question demonstrates problem solving and creativity. Sharing with the class shows flexibility towards math as students are able to learn multiple of different ways to get to one answer. This shows students that one way or the highway is FALSE! Students are challenging themselves by figuring out different ways to solve equations and then also learning from their classmates on methods they never thought about that expands there brain growth! Below are some methods completed my fellow teacher candidates, feel free to comment if you had a different approach then these three!
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| Strkalj, N. (2017) Math Equation. (Personal Photo) Retrieved from Personal Library. |
Until next week!
Nicolina, thank you for the clearly illustrated images you included. It really brought your main points in the blog together along with aiding those who are visual learners like myself. You also managed to make some clear and interesting point about math flexibility and tie it into the hand example. Thanks for sharing!
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