Comments on: [3ACTS] Nana’s Paint Mixup

By: What Makes an Engaging Task? | Math Teacher in Training

What Makes an Engaging Task? | Math Teacher in Training — Sat, 15 Nov 2014 20:47:28 +0000

[…] task I can almost always count on to be engaging in my classes is Nana’s Paint Mix-up from Dan Meyer. It is interesting to me how students will debate and converge naturally on a […]

By: Simon Biggs

Simon Biggs — Sun, 13 Apr 2014 00:07:01 +0000

Heya Dan,

Thanks for all your 3 Act maths. During my teaching prac I tried out your “Basketball hoop” lesson combined with Geogebra.

Wanted to let you know that I love putting your stuff up on teaching resources reddit:
http://www.reddit.com/r/teachingresources

Thank you for not just helping me, but many many other teachers :).

Cheers,
Simon

By: Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 00:58:53 +0000

Hit 'em with Coke v Sprite now. That one still messes me up.

By: Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 00:56:12 +0000

Man. Nice extension. "One cup of each" is such an enticing answer.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 22:32:30 +0000

I used the task to set up this question in an Algebra class.

The students were very puzzled when their intuition about the solution did not match arithmetic or a demonstration with cubes.

“I have two cans of pink paint variations in the following ratios. Neither is perfect.

Nana’s Pink 5 Reds : 1 White
50/50 Pink 1 Red : 1 White

I think that a perfect pink will be 3 Reds : 1 White

Can I make it by mixing Nana Pink and 50/50 Pink?”

Students expected the solution to be one cup of each. How wonderful the sound of a perplexed group of students when their arithmetic did not match their intuition.

Sense making ensued for many minutes with pictures, cups with cubes and more arithmetic.

By: Shaun Errichiello

Shaun Errichiello — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 00:08:09 +0000

I adapted this 3 act for our 8th/9th grade unit on Linear functions. The idea was to think of correlation and slope as a mixing of color. So many awesome things happened in these lessons (I will post about it someday) but I wanted to share a Geogebra applet that shows how the change in mixture changes the color of the paint. The kids loved seeing the connection between slope and color.

The first applet was designed to be a low inference visual:
http://www.geogebratube.org/student/m94597

The second is a bit more detailed:
http://www.geogebratube.org/student/m94599

I used these during the third act (after we show the video).

Also thanks for the tips on AE. I am slowly learning how to put all the pieces together.

By: Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 17:13:06 +0000

Hi Shaun, here are some basics. You use the pen tool up on the top of the screen to draw the graph. Make sure its “stroke” is set to the right color and the line thickness.

Now you have your entire graph, which isn’t super helpful. You want to animate it. So you expand the shape layer (click on the right arrow) and click on the tiny right arrow that’s revealed. You’re looking for Add Trim. Open up that property and you’ll see Start 0% and End 100%. Play with the end percentage and you’ll see the line erase and then redraw.

You want to set “keyframes” for 0% and 100%. AE will fill in the rest.

I’m happy to expand on any of this with screenshots or whatever.

By: Shaun Errichiello

Shaun Errichiello — Sun, 02 Mar 2014 17:58:48 +0000

This is great. I am introducing this 3act and want to connect it into my linear functions unit. I am thinking something about slope representing the ratio of each color in the mixture.

I am trying to make an animated graph (something like ditch diggers) and was hoping someone could share a general approach to using adobe software in making a line graph. Should I do all the work in After Effects? Or should I make the graph in another program like Illustrator.

By: Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer — Fri, 28 Feb 2014 18:45:42 +0000

You got me!

By: David Petro

David Petro — Fri, 28 Feb 2014 17:33:12 +0000

Have you been watching Sherlock? The texting reminded me of that.