Math is Figure-Out-Able!
Math teacher educator Pam Harris and her cohost Kim Montague answer the question: If not algorithms, then what? Join them for ~15-30 minutes every Tuesday as they cast their vision for mathematics education and give actionable items to help teachers teach math that is Figure-Out-Able. See www.MathisFigureOutAble.com for more great resources!
Math is Figure-Out-Able!
#MathStratChat - April 24, 2024
In today’s MathStratChat, Pam and Kim discuss the MathStratChat problem shared on social media on April 24, 2024.
Note: It’s more fun if you try to solve the problem, share it on social media, comment on others strategies, before you listen to Pam and Kim’s strategies.
Check out #MathStratChat on your favorite social media site and join in the conversation.
Twitter: @PWHarris
Instagram: Pam Harris_math
Facebook: Pam Harris, author, mathematics education
Want more? Check out the archive of all of our #MathStratChat posts!
Pam 00:00
Hey, fellow mathers! Welcome to the podcast where Math is Figure-Out-Able. I'm Pam Harris.
Kim 00:06
And I'm Kim Montague.
Pam 00:07
And this episode is a MathStratChat episode, where we chat about our math strategies. Every Wednesday evening, I throw out a math problem on social media, and people from around the world chat about strategies they use, and comment on each other's thinking.
Kim 00:18
So, this Wednesday, our math problem was three-fourths of 12. How would you solve this problem? Pause. Solve any way you want. And the problem was three-fourths of 12. Go.
Pam 00:30
three-fourths of 12. Bam. Alright. Kim, you go first.
Kim 00:34
Okay. So, I am thinking about that like three 1/4s of 12.
Pam 00:40
Mmhm.
Kim 00:41
So, I know 1/4 of 12 is 3. So, three 1/4s is 9.
Pam 00:49
Nice. So, similarly, I thought about a fourth of 12 is 3. And then, I thought four-fourths of 12 is the whole thing.
Kim 00:58
Yep.
Pam 00:58
So, 3 of those one-fourths would be 1/4 less. So, 12 minus 3 is 9.
Kim 01:04
Nice.
Pam 01:04
Cool. Couple different ways to do that.
Kim 01:06
Short and sweet.
Pam 01:07
Yeah. So, I'm wondering. People might do 3 times 12, and then divide by 4, but I'm hoping... And you could do that. That's kind of the way I learned to do it. You could do that. But I'm hoping that you can start, that we can get people thinking about using 1/4, and then scaling up or subtracting that from the whole. Cool.
Kim 01:27
Fantastic. Alright, we can't wait to see what you do each week. Join us on MathStratChat, and let us know how you think about the problems that are posted. And comment on each other's thinking.
Pam 01:37
Yeah, we post the problems on Wednesdays at 7pm Central time. When you answer, tag me and use the hashtag MathStratChat. Then join us here to hear how we're thinking about the problem. Ya'll, thank you for making math more figure-out-able!