My jaw literally dropped when I received this email the other day:
Let me explain two things to give you a little background:
First, I have a “contact me” section on this blog, for anyone who may need to get in touch. I received this email through that form.
Second, I recently put out a free resource called Doggy Dilemma for teachers. It is an open ended problem that requires a lot of reading, writing and thinking. There is no immediate answer, and all students would have a different answer in the end.
So…by the powers of observation and inferencing I can only conclude:
- This person who contacted me is a child that has received the assignment in class. (I am thinking this due to the lack of punctuation, capitals and misspellings. The “voice” of the writer seems very young, also.)
- This person is likely a 3-5th grader (since that is the target age group of the problem).
- This person is incredibly resourceful and bold. Not only does she google the problem, but she thinks to contact the author of the problem for an answer!
After I got over the shock of receiving this message I thought to myself, THIS is why I create what I create. No child should be able to google the answers to a great math problem.
What do you think about this?! I would love to know your thoughts.
Beyond Traditional Math 
Exactly! Information is at the fingertips of so many, so learning facts and figures is literally old school, students need to know how to think, and to know if the answer makes sense, as well as be critical consumers of all the information
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Needing to know how to think…that is a very good way to put it. That is why I love those standards for mathematical practice!
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I had a new student in my class that I gave homework to just to see what she knew and what we’d need to work on. She came back the next day and told me that she’d “youtubed” how to find perimeter! I was half floored and half impressed! At least she didn’t just give up and go play, she actually tried to figure it out!
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I agree that googling to find out how to calculate perimeter, VERY awesome. That is a great way to use google. My issue is more with this young lady actually asking me for the answer! 🙂 I thought that was so bold…thanks for the comment Carly!
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I gave something from nrich the other day called the Factors and Multiples puzzle. I literally had to cut the title off so kids wouldn’t google the solution.
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Wow! This is all so interesting to me…resourceful little children!
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It is so interesting to me that such a young student would think to do this. It is very resourceful that if for sure! It just goes to show when the kids leave your classroom or are out of your sight you can’t tell what work is their own and what belongs to someone else.
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I think that this could be a great resource for a “struggling in math” student. It would be wonderful if they could google the problem and get the answer, however, before receiving the answer they should be taken through the steps necessary to figure out the answer. They should not be able to just get the answer. They must read each page before they would be able to go the the next page. I have a grandson who is in 8th grade and is really struggling with his math. This would be very helpful!
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