Teaching children to think in the box
This evening, my youngest was frustrated with her math homework on time. Her frustration was not due to the math involved but with the expectations of the writers of the workbook.
Here is what the problem stated:
9:58 AM is __ minutes before ___AM
I had to tell her the answer here because, clearly, the writers are thinking so in the box that they considered it obvious that the reference point would be the hour, so that you would fill in the blanks with 2 and 10:00, respectively. As my daughter rightly observed, though, there are many possible answers. All you have to do is make the minutes match the time. You could put in 1 and 9:59 or 3 and 10:01, and so on.
Visit my site www.kallahmagazine.com -- not just for kallahs. You can also see posts at http://www.examiner.com/x-18522-NY-Jewish-Bridal-Examiner
Here is what the problem stated:
9:58 AM is __ minutes before ___AM
I had to tell her the answer here because, clearly, the writers are thinking so in the box that they considered it obvious that the reference point would be the hour, so that you would fill in the blanks with 2 and 10:00, respectively. As my daughter rightly observed, though, there are many possible answers. All you have to do is make the minutes match the time. You could put in 1 and 9:59 or 3 and 10:01, and so on.
Visit my site www.kallahmagazine.com -- not just for kallahs. You can also see posts at http://www.examiner.com/x-18522-NY-Jewish-Bridal-Examiner
Comments