Rich Learning Tasks

155 / 216

151
Copyright © 3P Learning – These resources have been created in partnership with Dr. Marian Small.
For more information visit
We Balance!
Questions to facilitate the learning
• There are 8 Bs balancing 7 As and Cs. Does that mean that B must be greater than A and C? Explain.
• Do you think C can be an odd number? Explain.
• What about B? Explain.
• What equations could you write to describe the equalities?
Scaffolding the learning
• Suppose you just chose values for A and C and figured out B. Would that work?
• What if you decided that B and C were going to be the same value? Could you get a solution?
What’s the point of this task?
This task engages students in some algebraic thinking, although they can solve the problem numerically.
Some students will just try lots of different values for A, B and C and hope that some work.
Others will use reasoning. For example, they might notice that the left side of the second balance is twice
the left side of the first balance with an extra C and use that information to simplify the problem. There
are a number of correct solutions.
Extending the learning
Students might create a third balance that would work with one of the answers they got and see if it’s
possible to get a second possible answer to work with all three balances.
Pattern and Algebra