We watched Dan Meyer's 3-Act Play called "Popcorn Picker."
Since this was our first ever Math Lab, we practiced "What do you notice?" "What do you wonder?" We practiced asking question about what we saw. We decided on a question to investigate and learned about variables. In Act 1, Dan poses a scenario. True math modeling opens the option for many different questions to be explored. This play is fairly simple. If you rolled up an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper two different directions, which would hold more popcorn?
And of course, after making our own predictions (most all kids picked "same"), we had to test it - with real popcorn. I was kind of blown away by all the ways they chose to measure it:
- count all the individual pieces
- pour popcorn from one container to the other and see if it comes short or overflows
- weigh the popcorn on a scale
- use a measuring cup
- record the amount of time it takes to eat each pile.
Our journal writing was pretty basic for the first lab. We'd be working on writing introductions, recording our thoughts as we go, and reflection in the coming weeks. They also didn't know they'd have any real audience other than their teacher, so you are an amazing motivation for them to write clearly and write a lot!
Act 2 usually includes all the details you might need to solve the problem mathematically. It's usually just a picture with measurements.
Grades 3-5 investigated through testing, grades 6-8 tested, but used the formulas to find the exact volume. They learned about surface area, lateral surface area, volume, and radius. Day 2 posed the question: If you could cut the same piece of paper, how could you get an even larger volume?
"I can beat that"
A lot of math (next week we'll learn about graphing on Desmos), but nothing I took pictures of. Even some algebra to solve for the volume working back from the circumference. It was this day that I decided Math Lab would be my favorite day of the week!
Act 3 replays the same portion of the video with the solution attached.
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