New book: Problems of the Week

I have a new book available for online orders (and you can always view details on all my books along with previews at First Hand Press).

My latest book, Problems of the Week: Developing Mathematic Thinking for Middle School Students, is a collection of thought-provoking math problems for middle schoolers. Each question is a creative problem that gives students a chance to use their math skills in new ways.

• Estimate the area of the parking lots at Mall of the Americas
• Use a cricket to calculate temperature
• Measure how many miles Barry Bonds ran in a season of home runs

Each problem set is photocopy ready with attractive clipart. Teach students that math is more than 30-second arithmetic!

Print edition: $11.99
E-Book: $4.99

A tough math problem?

The kiddos had trouble with this question today. I quoted the question exactly and made up a graph for illustration purposes:

How much more was the difference in costs during year 1 than year 8?

So many students had to ask for clarification. Many of them asked whether the question asked about "Product A" or "Product B." Others listed the price change for each product over the eight years. These were honors 8th grade classes who had trouble parsing this question.

Do what you can, then worry about the rest

Margie delivers newspapers to 100 houses. She pays $3.00 for a pack of 25 newspapers. The subscribers pay 50 cents for each newspaper. Margie delivers newspapers 6 days per week. How much profit does she make each week?

One of my colleagues laments that his students freeze up when faced with questions like the one above. He says they sit back in their desks, turn up their noses, and say, "I don't know what to do." There is so much information here! Everyone can do something with this information. Tell me how many packs of newspapers she buys? What is Margie's cost-per-paper? How many papers does she sell in a week? SOMETHING!

Students may not realize that we give them very leading questions. If they calculate what they can, the resulting information takes them to another step, then another, until it has led them down a path to the required solution.

One strategy I want to attempt -- have students write five questions they can answer with the information at the beginning of this post. Help students develop problem solving strategies by writing the problems.