Eric the Sheep 1.Find an interesting or meaningful problem to solve: There is a line of sheep waiting to be shorn. Eric is last in the line and too impatient to wait his turn, so every time the shearer takes a sheep from the head of the line, Eric jumps forward two sheep. Since you know how many sheep are in the line in front of Eric at the start, how many will be shorn before Eric gets to the head of the line?
2.Explore, Experiment and Collect Data: Experiment with different numbers of sheep in the line up. Collect data.
3.Use the data to create a theory: What did you notice in the data you collected? Were there any patterns? Could you tell how many sheep get shorn before Eric, for any size of line up?
4.Use toolbox of problem solving strategies to prove your theory: Use a tool from the toolbox to test your theory. 5.Extension: What else can you learn? Explore other situations regarding Eric. Perhaps he jumps three sheep for each one that is shorn; or maybe there are two shearers meaning two sheep get shorn at the same time. Explore, explore, explore.
6.Publish and Communicate: This is where you must prepare your findings to be shared with an audience. Explain or show what you did at each stage, and what you found out. Hand this in.