In the first week of Math 251, or Fundamentals of Elementary Math, we learned how there are many ways to approach a math problem. Everyone has different methods, and none of them can be considered to be wrong!
One way to show how everyone's brains work differently when tackling a math problem is to give the class a simple problem, such as
66-29 = ?
and ask the class to complete the problem in their head, and then write their technique down on paper. This is how we approached this on the first day of class. After we did this, we split into different groups according to how we did it, and a representative from each group wrote on the board how the problem was completed. There were so many different ways! Eventually, we learned about many different methods, such as stacking, hopping, or finding the difference by tens and ones.
Another thing we learned on Thursday of this past week, was that drawing pictures is a perfect way to solve math problems, and is in fact, encouraged. The problem that we were given was something of the following :
"Lizzie collects lizards and beetles! She has 8 creatures in her collection so far, and a total of 36 legs. As you can see, below, lizards have 4 legs, and beetles have 6 legs. How many of each critter does she have?"
When I first read the problem, I was trying to think of some algebraic way of solving this word problem. Unfortunately, it has been a while since my algebra skills were in use, so that didn't work. The next thing that I thought of was to use the simplest way possible, which was to draw out the creatures and add legs to them. My work is shown below :
As it shows in my work, I added at least 4 legs to each "creature" because each of them have at least 4. That was the minimum. And then I still needed to add 4 legs to reach 36, therefore, I added them to the other creatures one at a time, to reach 6, making it a beetle. After using this method, I learned that Lizzie currently has 6 lizards, and 2 beetles in her collection!
That is all for my first blog of the unit!! I'm glad we were all able to learn so much during the first week!
That is all for my first blog of the unit!! I'm glad we were all able to learn so much during the first week!
I really enjoyed reading your blog! The explanations were thoroughly described and in an effective way. The visual aids really helped, especially the drawn out one of the beetles, with the highlighted legs. I tend to solve problems the most algebraic way possible, and the drawing of the beetles helped to reiterate to me how simple drawing a picture can be, and I am going to try to apply it soon! Love the theme of the blog as well!
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a really great blog! It set the standards very high. I also think in more of an algebraic mind. The idea of drawing pictures out makes a lot of sense too though. I never knew there were so many ways to solve one problem, and how each student could think of it in such different ways!
ReplyDeleteI think that you did a great job with this blog! First off I liked how you picked a theme for your title and background. Secondly, your pictures really help to explain your point. You did a really good job explaining what we learned in words, but the picture helps, especially for those who are visual learners, as we know many children are. I also enjoyed how you italicized the word minimum in one of your explanation because it made it clear that it was an important term to know. Great job!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all the theme for this page is really cool. I also liked that your drawings are very clear and easy to make sense of. It is really interesting how people can figure out so many different ways to solve even such simple problems, especially using something as simple as a picture.
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