Dear all,
Below, with permission, we forward you Carola's entertaining response to
the August I Hate Maths problem. Carola is busy looking for other people
to talk to about her thinking on the problem - so please, join her and
join us in the conversation!
A reminder that your answers have to be emailed or put in the I Hate
Maths mailbox in Marang Block by 31 August.
Next Monday - 5 September, we will have an informal lunchtime meeting,
1-2pm in M4, for all interested where we talk about the problem, the
different solution methods we have received, and the mathematical ideas
underlying the problem. Bring your sandwiches and your brain! We look
forward to talking!
Maths challenge response
CS
As a learner
I am reminded of my weekly visits to my mother and how long it takes to
get
to Pretoria and how short the actual visit feels and I think that an
hour to
spend with her would be too short. Then I wonder why the question limits
the
visit to an hour, even if it is 'just' an aunt. Maybe the aunt is too
weak
and the visitors will exhaust her, so then I would leave earlier or
maybe the
aunt has not had the energy to feed herself, in which case I would
prepare
(or go out and buy) some food and stay longer. So how can the question
be
so emphatic about staying only one hour? And then the time it takes to
get
there - well, it depends on the traffic. I can take me 40 minutes when
the
highway is clear and 1 1/2 hours when it is blocked and anyway I drive
at
120km/h whenever I can, not 35. who on earth drives anywhere at 35km/h?
Even if there are a lot of robots in the suburbs and the robot catches
me at
red each time, I get closer to 50 or 60km/h before I need to slow down
again.
When I finally get to the maths part of the question, I am stumped -
this
has to be a trick question. It's obvious: its the same. The two
journeys balance each
other out. Its 5km/h more in one case and 5km/h less in the other, and
so
the average speed has to be 30km/h (25+35=60 divide by (where on earth
is
that symbol on the keybord?) 2=30, so its 30 km/h, so travel time is
half an
hour because one hour is 60 minutes. Aagh, but what if that 'obvious
logic
is wrong? What if they wanted a more mathematical answer, an answer
that
didn't just stare me in the face? An answer that requires mathematical
equations? I have forgotten how to do maths equations - I can only do
sums
where the answer is obvious and then I work backwards to find out what
the
appropriate equation could be. And I can't remember what the formulas
for
speed and velocity are. I will be completely embarrassed if my answer
to
this simple primary school maths problem is wrong. I better go and
check
with Ingrid - she's a maths fundi. But come to think of it - I haven't
seen
her this week, I only saw her for a few minutes after she came back from
the
conference. Better go and check if she's alright. Just avoid this
feeling
of sinking embarrassment.
As an assessor
and someone who has spent a lot of time designing assessment tasks and
teaching students to think about more open-ended assessment tasks, I
think:
this question does not work. It is not clear what is being tested - the
maths of speed and time or empathy for sick aunts? And what would the
correct
answer be: choosing the formula for working out the problem, accurate
numeracy in the various steps of working it out, an accurate final
answer?
And should the answer include the time spent with the aunt or just the
travel time? I would advise that all the story part be left out so that
its
just the maths part that remains and that the maths part be clarified.
As an employee of the Wits School of Education
I remember my total delight at hearing this challenge for the first
time,
the playfulness of the endeavour to engage verbal people with maths and
see
if it is possible to break down the barriers between the verbal and
numerical worlds. I remember the 'seriousness' of the presentation as
if we were all
school children sitting in front of an intimidating maths teacher. I
wanted to do
this with a non-maths colleague, but she had no time to space. But then
I notice that I have also been avoiding the challenge for nearly a
month,
and if I don't do it soon I will be too late for a deadline yet again.
And
this is a frivolous, fun deadline - what about all the essays that I
have to
hand back this afternoon and have not marked yet? That is a serious
deadline and here I am playing around with fun. Aaagh, why can I never
get
my priorities right?
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