Just remembered something that- to me- was very thought provoking during Fawn's Math Circle on Monday. It's such an easy thing to do and I've seen people recommend this before. If you want to introduce student to more interesting problem solving experiences, pick out interesting problems from the text (challenge problems, end of problem set, enrichment or extension problems from your textbooks supplemental materials, your own collection, etc.) and then do this:
Remove the question.
Simply present the problem with no question. Fawn pulled this one on us at the Math Circle and everybody loved the idea.
I just remembered where I saw this recently! It was at one of Steve Lepire's gatherings where he showed us all the Dan Meyer TED talk. Dan Meyer told us to do essentially the same thing. Great minds think alike (Dan and Fawn).
So, consider this. Pick out 1 or 2 challenging problems for next week. Present them at the beginning of class so everyone has a chance to consider them. Remove the question. That will eliminate any kids from shouting out the answer and allow kids to have more ownership over the problem itself.
Of course, some kids will ask, "where is the question?" And this reminds me of a great scene in the movie The Matrix where Neo asks how a child can bend a spoon with his mind. The child responds, "the secret is realizing that there is no spoon." Let that one sink in...
Ok, that's my thought for the day.
