I was in a 6th-grade math
class yesterday. The instructor had put
a similar illustration on the board – only the dimes and nickels were laid out
in the same manner. And three or four of
the pennies were shinier than the one that is in the center of the pennies in the above illustration. The instructor asked which set of coins was
different and why?
The first answer was logical for a
math class.
“The dimes are different because all
of the other coins add up to 25 cents. Five
nickels make 25 cents. 25 pennies make
25 cents. A single quarter makes 25
cents. But five dimes make 50.”
The instructor asked what might be
some other possible answers. It was
interesting what answers were provided.
“The pennies are different because
Abraham Lincoln is looking in a different direction than the other three
presidents”
“The quarter is different because it’s
all alone and the only one not divisible by 5 to get a whole number”
“The
pennies because they are a different material or color”
The pennies also looked newer in her
illustration whereas the quarter looks to be the newest in mine.
I don’t think any of them stated
that the nickels were different for any reason.
My favorite answer was the dimes –
not because they added up to a different number but the logic behind a
different students answer.
“The dimes are wrong because they
look to be the same size as the nickel and that ain’t right”
The experiment was to listen to and
understand one another as we each have different points of view but there are
things that we can learn if we will focus on ration or logic of others and not
be so focused on only one way of looking at it.
I thought that was an interesting
concept for a math teacher to share as there is only one correct answer in math.
