I’m always delighted by the extra wave of energy students put forth when they are asked to develop their own question to a scenario.  I love my job, and this year has started amazingly.  But today was probably my favorite day thus far.

College Algebra:  

Since we are working on quadratics, we did the Many or Money scenario from the Math Forum Problems of the Week.  It’s interesting (and almost entertaining) to watch them discover that there is no question.  This is the first time we’ve done an activity where they developed the question so they came up with the questions I would have expected:

• What price will maximize profit?
• How many students would go if the price were $8?
• How many students will attend at the maximum profit?
• (My favorite) Can you write an equation that models Ticket price and Profit?

They were able to get started on answering some of these questions.  I had them work on one large sheet of paper in order to share their work.  The period ended before they could wrap up their work.  Here is what one group has so far:

When talking with teachers about using the Notice and Wonder strategy is usually surrounding the unexpected “wonderings” that students will have.  I think it’s important to allow them to have that creativity of asking outlandish questions like, what is the band’s favorite pre-concert meal?  But to make sure that the math goals are met, shifting their focus on what we can mathematically deduce from the scenario.  I usually ask what would I most likely ask about this scenario and what questions do you have about this scenario?  

 

Algebra 2:

Last year, with this same class, we examined Val’s Values.  The authentic, real-world awesomeness of that particular lesson was going to be impossible to re-create, but the scenario was still applicable and intriguing to this new group of students.

Last year, my students insisted that the ages of both Val and Amir were vital to answering the question Who spends more on jackets over their lifetime?  Most fascinating to me was their estimations of Val and Amir’s ages:

Desmos made up  a nice scatter plot for us that we could also Notice and Wonder about:

And Val, my students were slightly disappointed that they didn’t get to examine the entire $300 jacket.  They are VERY curious about it.  😉