Comments on: Which Is The Better First Act?

By: rich

rich — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 02:38:24 +0000

A dripping faucet can lead to an open-ended discussion with students. For example, a fellow teacher saw that the water fountain in the hallway outside her classroom door was always dripping at what seemed to be a constant rate. She started a discussion with her middle school students with regard to the dripping faucet without talking about math. The students responded with the idea that the fountain probably wasted a lot of water and then the students drove this idea into a project to determine how much water (and money) was being wasted by the drip. After determining the amount of water and researching the actual cost of the water, the students were able to determine the loss of water (and cost) for the district. The teacher arranged to have the class present their findings to the district administrators. As no surprise, the long-time leaking fountain was repaired. The teacher never lead the students into a math problem and the students were truly engaged. More meaningful, applied, and not contrived.

By: Bowen Kerins

Bowen Kerins — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 04:46:07 +0000

Hey, I wasn’t picking on you, just curious about the decision — and with most Internet videos coming with timecodes now, may as well include it.

What about taking Nancy’s version and replacing the “Act I” with the water dripping into a half-full plugged sink? The measuring cup could be useful in “Act II” but also needed is some information about the size and shape of the sink.

I suppose this becomes a little reminiscent of the famous “fill the octagonal thingy” video, but the question “How much longer is there until this sink overflows?” adds tension and interest.

By: John Gaskell

John Gaskell — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 23:10:27 +0000

So. I’m making my budget for next month and I need to know how much my water bill is going to be if I don’t get this leak fixed. See, the plumber charges $150 to fix it. Is it worth it to get it fixed before I move out at the end of the month? Or should I just let it run?

By: Joshua Schmidt

Joshua Schmidt — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:09:53 +0000

Thanks for explaining this in detail. I think I can fully understand the side that you are coming from now, Dan. When explaining as the first act, I do think that (other) Dan has a better first act set up.

I would like like to note as well how cool it is to be able to be picky about videos like this because let’s not forget how much better these are than pulling problems out of the book.

By: Julie Reulbach

Julie Reulbach — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:45:05 +0000

I like the “picky”. You are explaining how to do this in a very illustrative way. I am still trying to figure #anyqs out so I’ll take all of the explanations that I can get, even the picky ones. Thanks and keep it coming.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:36:22 +0000

“WTF for Math” could be a cool coffee table book (print? OMG so 80’s.)

By: Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:09:11 +0000

Peter: In today’s modern, if uncivil vernacular, Act 1 of a lesson should be the ‘WTF?’ part. If I can get students saying, “Huh?”, or “What is this?”, then I think Act 1 is working

Exactly. And the real challenge isn't to create a first act that makes students go "WTF?" You can find those all over Twitter's #anyqs tag. The challenge is to create a second act that helps students resolve the "WTF?" from the first act mathematically. ie. I can make you wonder a bunch of different things from an image, but very few of your questions will be resolved mathematically.

By: John Berray

John Berray — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 13:59:39 +0000

I do think Dan’s video is a slightly more natural and hence the winner of the two, although seeing the full bathroom counter top in Nancy’s scene lends an air of “this could be anyone’s house.”

The idea of a close up of Dan’s shot would be valuable, followed by a pan out, but that could get a shaky.

Here’s a crazy idea: leave out the bucket in Dan’s video. Give the impression that a passerby has noticed this leak and is catching the waste before the homeowner has. This might get students pondering “How much water is wasted every hour, day, month…?” or “How much is that unfortunate drip costing the homeowner?”
The bucket just seems like it’s already one step into the process of the solution.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:46:18 +0000

You could add a little more drama. Dripping water is just not that exciting.

Maybe take that iphone and put it on the ground next to the bucket. Students would but totally bummed if the iphone was destroyed, similar to how I felt when that attractive woman was eaten by jaws.

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:37:05 +0000

I’m getting it…..

In today’s modern, if uncivil vernacular, Act 1 of a lesson should be the ‘WTF?’ part. If I can get students saying, “Huh?”, or “What is this?”, then I think Act 1 is working