Comments on: [3ACTS] Ditch Diggers & Bubble Wrap

By: Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer — Fri, 04 Oct 2013 23:08:52 +0000

Nice. Love hearing about applause at the end of a math task.

By: Marshall

Marshall — Fri, 04 Oct 2013 14:56:30 +0000

Did Bubble Wrap today with my geometers and it was AWESOME. Fun debate on whether or not area matters. Thanks Dan.

By: Logs and Decibels | Productive Struggle

Logs and Decibels | Productive Struggle — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 19:28:28 +0000

[…] So I started looking for ways to improve that and I want to pause and quoteÂ a post from Dan Meyer’s blog: […]

By: Failure Fridays: Logs and Decibels | Hilbert's Hotel

Failure Fridays: Logs and Decibels | Hilbert's Hotel — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 00:40:05 +0000

[…] So I started looking for ways to improve that and I want to pause and quote a post from Dan Meyer’s blog: […]

By: Matt Vaudrey

Matt Vaudrey — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 18:54:24 +0000

Be still, my beating heart.
Are those… non-integer coordinates on Ditch Digger?
Mr. Meyer, you continue to impress. Consider that one stolen for my units on Parallel lines and Systems of Equations.

By: Andrew Stadel

Andrew Stadel — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 07:47:41 +0000

The Bubble Wrap is rad! I look forward to using it with my kiddos. You know I’ve already thrown this one out there, but we can’t ignore the law of diminishing return. Popping bubble wrap is one of life’s simple pleasures for me, but I couldn’t see myself doing it for over 20 minutes. Furthermore, I’d think one’s rate would start to slow down as time progresses and the satisfaction level tapers off. Don’t get me wrong, I think the Italian performance artist presents a wonderful idea and stress-relief that I’d gladly pay him for. I’m curious to try this one out with students. I think I just might invest in the large bubble wrap roll I found at Home Depot and see what students get tired (or bored) the quickest and who has a joyful marathon experience.
Regardless, I think there are some important conversations to have with students and this task. Could someone literally sit for 40 minutes and pop bubbles, ending with the same amount of satisfaction as they started with? At what point would it become more of a task to pop all those bubbles, possibly having an adverse affect on the stress-relief? Could more than one person share the same square of bubble wrap? Now we have a work problem. Last, but not least. One of my favorite ways of popping bubble wrap is to roll it up and twist it. I’d love to know if we could work that in somehow.

By: Bob Lochel

Bob Lochel — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 22:23:32 +0000

I’ve used bubble wrap with 7th grade classes to begin conversations about rate of change, slope, and steepness of a graph. I cheat a bit by using online applets, but the stress relief, and kid buy-in, is the same: http://mathcoachblog.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/the-bubble-wrap-challenge/

By: Joan Hall

Joan Hall — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 22:21:56 +0000

Just used “Bubble Wrap” to talk proportions and models with middle schoolers. And they really did cheer when the saw the Act 3 videos!

By: shaun

shaun — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:35:13 +0000

thanks for ditch diggers, I am going to use that tomorrow. I will also make a GeoGebra Extension.

By: Matt H.

Matt H. — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 17:27:00 +0000

I certainly like the idea of Ditch Digging, but I think it would work better if it were under ground. As in, tunnels, not ditches. On the surface, you can see the other guy coming (if not immediately on Day 1, then towards the end) and aim for him…which brings up pursuit paths, perhaps, but it’s not really interesting from a “will they meet” standpoint.

Underground though, you’ve got that blind aspect to it, as well as the 3rd dimension to deal with. Which is a lot more interesting, if you ask me…though maybe more from an engineering standpoint than pure mathematics.