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Centre for Research in Mathematics Education (CRME)
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Discovering the shortest route across a school yard
This is a problem solving lesson, designed to help you assess how well students are able to:
- Select appropriate mathematics to solve a problem
- Compare and evaluate different methods for solving a problem and make generalizations about the appropriateness of different approaches
- Understand the Pythagorean theorem and how it can be used to solve problems in the real world
The problem is set in the context of a schoolyard game. The schoolyard is a square of side 16 yards. The children start at a point 4 yards form on of the vertices and must touch each side of the square before returning to the starting point. The problem is to find the shortest possible route that the children can take. Students must justify their choice.
This is a problem solving lesson from the Mathematics Assessment Resource Service, a collaboration between UC Berkeley and the Shell Centre team at the University of Nottingham. Further information on the collection is given here.
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