Crossing the River Challenge: • •
Apply our understanding of functional relationships to solve a pattern problems Practise using strategies from our Thinking Mathematically toolbox
Problem:
On the weekend, friends of mine went camping. They were camping on a small island in the middle of the lake. There were eight adults and two children in all. When they went to cross the lake and return home their boat was missing. They searched and searched but all they could find was an old canoe. It wasn't as big as the boat and they were worried it wouldn't carry them all. So, they tested it and found the boat could carry either: • one adult • one or two children At first they thought some of them would be stranded forever, but finally, they figured out how to get them all safely across the lake. Can you figure it out?
Materials: •
Counters, or another object, to act as people
•
Paper boat (see the video to learn how to make one)
Getting Started: 1. 2. 3.
How many trips would it take to get all the campers back to the mainland? Figure this out and record your answers. What if one of the adults got sick and never went on the trip. How many trips would they need if there were only seven adults? What if it was just a family, i.e. 2 adults and two children, how many trips would be required?
Continue to to ask yourself “What if...” questions, regarding the number of adults on the boat. Record your answers in a t-chart. Analyze your data to find a FUNCTIONAL RELATIONSHIP between the number of adults and the number of trips. Write this underneath the table. As soon as someone tells you the number of people on the trip, could you tell them how many trips it would take? Record your explanation in your math book. What other “What if...” questions do you want to explore?