1. SOLVING PROBLEMS WITH BLOCKS
State Goal 6: Demonstrate a knowledge and sense of numbers and their representations, including basic operations, ratios, and proportions, by using multiple ways of obtaining exact values and estimates to understand patterns involving numbers and their applications.
Chicago Academic Standard: Use more than one way to find the answer to a problem (for example, mental math, estimation, computers, pencil and paper).
Curriculum Framework Statement: Identify and describe similar figures and congruent figures.
Activity: The students were divided in groups of four. Each group was given a picture with shapes and had to solve a problem using the picture. The solution involved making the same shape as the picture.
Materials: Blocks, construction paper, shapes
Assessment: Many of the students, at least 50%, felt that this concept was very difficult to do. But the other 50% were able to master the concept with some help. They were also given a test without manipulatives.
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