How many harvest baskets can we make with our coin harvest? What are the “best” items to choose for the harvest baskets?

Problem Posing

Sample Prompt:  

• • What do you wonder about?
  • From the list of wonders, how can we use math to make a decision? How can math serve our needs?            
  • What do you notice? What do you wonder?
  • What is interesting or important about this situation?
  • Who cares about this situation?

What other information do you need?  Are there important quantities?

Making Assumptions and Considering the Variables

Sample Prompt:  

Gathering Information

• • If I knew______, then I could figure out_______
  • Let’s assume__________.
  • What assumptions can we make around the problem to simplify the problem posed?

    What do we already know?

    What do we need to know?

    If I knew_______then, I can figure out_________.

    (What are your assumptions and variables?)

    • Who will participate in our coin harvest?
    • How much food will our harvest basket have?
    • How much will our harvest basket cost?
    • How many baskets will we make with our coin harvest?
    • What are the best items to choose for the Harvest Baskets?

    Let’s assume…

    Every student and teacher will bring in some coins.

    We will include nonperishable food in the harvest baskets.

    We will set cost for the harvest baskets and choose food to purchase for them.

    Advertising on our Morning Show &  Poster Reminders will increase our Coin Harvest.

Solving- Doing the Mathematics/Building a model

Sample Prompt:  

• What math do you know that can help you solve the problem?
• What are some common misconceptions that could arise at this stage, and how can they be addressed?

Sample Prompt:  

• How might we use our solution to other similar problems?
• Can this solution help us with other problems?

 Is there a model/formula that I can reuse or share with other types of problems/phenomenon in our real world?

How can I use the math that I know to be more efficient with this problem?

Analyzing and revising the model

Sample Prompt:  

• How might we become even more precise with our model?
• How might our model change if we changed some of our previous assumptions?

Reporting out- Sharing & Connecting Real world Math to school math

Sample Prompt:  

• How does all the math we used in this problem relate to what we covering as math topics this year?
• Can you identify all the math and strategies we used to tackle this problem?