Some Spectacular Student Work!

After students work out the solution to a challenging I Love Math problem, they still have a lot of work to do.  We ask student teams to turn in "submissions" to explain their thinking and convince an audience that their answer is correct.

It is in this submission process that some of the best mathematics lies.  It requires teams to consider the mathematical "key" to solving the problem, and the best way to communicate it to an audience.  It also requires the team to draw on all the creative talents of its members.

The graphic above might just look like a beautiful, colorful design.  However, it is actually the final image in a tremendously fun and creative submission to the How Many Squares? problem (see prior post).  This link takes 85 seconds, and is worth every second.  Enjoy!

How Many Squares? Submission by a 7th Grade Team

Of course, this counting program only answered the first half of the How Many Squares? challenge.  The second part required students to determine the area of each of the 50 squares.  An 8th grade team found a very creative way to use the pythagorean theorem to calculate the areas of the tilted squares.  They submitted a complete slide show, and included this as their final slide:

For students that were not familiar with the pythagorean theorem, there was a more intuitive way to calculate the areas of tilted squares.  Here is how another Eighth Grade team described it:

You might be interested in the solution to the second problem in the prior post, Le Havre to New York.  An Eighth Grade team turned in a beautiful solution using only two slides:

To see more great student work, keep visiting the blog in the coming weeks.  And visit Mustard Seed School on February 15 -- I Love Math Day!