I have been a huge fan of Dan Meyer and his 3-Act approach to problem solving http://blog.mrmeyer.com. Unfortunately, almost every 3-Act task I have come across on his website and over the web involves middle school standards concepts and beyond. No problem though, because as educators WE CREATE!  This is probably one of my most favorite/rich tasks I have created in the past 2 years because it gets students engaged and they don’t care that they’re doing math (and lots of it)! I have seen Dan speak 3 times in the past month (almost reached stalker status) and he said I need to start sharing my elementary 3-Act tasks and so….I guess there’s no better place to begin than here!  Thanks for the push Dan!

Act 1: Watch the video (what questions do you have, what are you curious about, or what do you want to know?)

Usually students will ask how much does he weigh? or how many pieces of hair does he have? which leads me to ask the question, if students haven’t done so, How many pieces of hair would you need to support your body weight?  Students make an estimate which is revisited throughout the lesson.  I try to never underestimate the power of estimation because of the insight it gives me into my students reasoning.  In groups, students test the tinsel strength of a single strand of hair by taping pennies to it until it snaps.  Before reading on…how many pennies can a single strand of hair support? Get it? Got it? Good!

After students have determined the tinsel strength of their hair they can adjust their estimate if they choose to and figure out how many pieces of hair they need.

Act 2: Almost immediately, students realize that they do not have enough information to solve the problem and create a wish list of information they need.  They only get the information if they ask for it and explain what they’ll do with it.  I tell them that information can be dangerous if they don’t know what to do with it!

a penny weighs 2.5 grams or 0.08 ounces

16 ounces in a pound or approximately 456 grams in a pound

Tinsel strength

Act 3: Students are pretty good to go from here however they are still expected to compare and share solution strategies and check they reasonableness of their estimate. BTW-a single strand of a students hair will usually support about 25 pennies.  How close was your estimate?

Act 4: (The Sequel)  I love this part because having students make generalizations and “algebrafy” the math is something I am always trying to improve as an elementary teacher.  In Act 4 I ask students to find the rule that would determine how many hairs would be needed for a person of any weight?  And…can they write it as an expression?

I am always sure to share the disclaimer with my students that they should not use their new-found knowledge on their brother or sister.  Trust me…some have asked!  Although I created the task for elementary students it has really engaged middle school students and teachers during PL sessions.  If you choose to do the task I’d love to hear about it!  The lesson plan is already to go http://prezi.com/uc-jgirncjh8/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

If you can make it better or have suggestion I’d love to hear from you!