When will the winning Minecraft pickaxe finish? We begin this problem by thinking like a spy and figuring out what information we have and what information we need. The video shows us that there are six kinds of pickaxes competing in a race. Once the race starts the gold pickaxe takes an…
Download The Situation A homeowner tiled her floor with pennies to make the beautiful design seen below. The Challenge(s) How much were those pennies? Question(s) To Ask These questions may be useful in helping students down the problem solving path: What’s a guess that is too low? What’s a guess that is too high? What’s…
Download The SituationFrito-Lay produces packages of chips that contain a variety of flavors like the package below. The circles on the bags’ lower right corner normally displays the quantity of each type of chips. With 20 bags in the package and four flavors, it would be natural to assume that there would be 5…
Download The Situation The Challenge(s) How effective is each password requirement in making a password take longer to hack using brute force? What is the longest amount of time it would take a computer to hack your password? What recommendations would you make regarding password requirements so that they are as secure as possible?…
How many calories is one _____________? How many ___________ could you eat if you only wanted to eat exactly ________ calories? (one-step equation) How many ___________ could you eat if you only wanted to eat at most ________ calories? (one-step inequality) How many more _________ could you eat if you have already eaten ______ of them…
A company named Hammermill manufactures copy paper that it claims to be “99.99% jam free.” How many paper jams would you expect to have happen? How many paper jams would you expect to have happen in one ream? How many paper jams would you expect to have happen in two reams? How many paper…
This problem’s success depends on students having a sufficient understanding of how a plane measures a vehicle’s speed from the air. The picture below may be useful to help “develop the question” as Dan Meyer has recently blogged about.
NFL cornerback Patrick Peterson received a $15,361,000 signing bonus as part of a five-year, $70 million contract extension. However, he didn’t immediately cash the check. When asked why, he said, “I just haven’t gotten around to it.” How much interest money did Peterson lose by not immediately cashing his check? These questions may be useful…
How many times bigger should the school be? These questions may be useful in helping students down the problem solving path: How big would the school be if it was twice as big? How big would the school be if it was five times as big? What size would a student have to…
How much did the temperature drop? These questions may be useful in helping students down the problem solving path: What is a guess that is too low? What is a guess that is too high? What is your best guess? Why are there two 20’s on each side of the thermometer? How…
The field below is covered with many green circular shapes. Each circle is caused by a sprinkler that was only able to water grass within its spraying radius. Some areas of the field were not close enough to a sprinkler, received little to no water, and now have dead grass.
How much money is that? These questions may be useful in helping students down the problem solving path: What is a guess that is too low? What is a guess that is too high? What is your best guess? What options do you have for counting this money and what are the…
Bed Bath & Beyond frequently sends out two different coupons to its customers. One coupon is “20% off one single item.” and the other coupon is “$5 off any purchase of $15 or more.” Which coupon will save you the most money? These questions may be useful in helping students down the…
Some gas stations charge lower prices for customers who pay with cash instead of credit cards. Some credit cards give a cash back rebate for purchasing gas. Is gas cheaper with cash or credit card? These questions may be useful in helping students down the problem solving path: How much do you…
Sunspots create solar flares that can damage satellites in orbit, disable GPS systems, and cause power failures in cities. The larger the sunspot, the higher the chance of creating a powerful solar flare. How big is Sunspot AR 1476? These questions may be useful in helping students down the problem solving path:…
You are buying arts and crafts supplies from Michaels this Sunday and have the two coupons pictured below to choose from. Which coupon will save you the most money? How much would the higher-priced item in Scenario 2 have to be to make both coupons save the same amount of money? These…
A woman is playing poker on a video game machine that allows you to play 100 hands at a time. At the beginning of this hand she is dealt the five cards pictured below: She decides to hold only these four cards: When she presses the “DRAW” button, each of the hundred hands will…
NASA stopped painting its space shuttles’ external fuel tank because the paint did not improve performance and they wanted to reduce the shuttle’s overall weight. How much did the external fuel tank’s paint weigh? These questions may be useful in helping students down the problem solving path: What is a guess that…
When Motel 6 opened for business in 1962 they only charged $6 per night, hence their name. They could not afford to keep that price forever, and since then their prices have continued to grow. What percent has their price increased since it first opened? (percent increase) What percent has the price increased…
