Rich Learning Tasks

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Make It Balance

Questions to facilitate the learning

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Was it possible to use one of each colour? Why or why not?

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Could you use the same amount of two different colours? How?

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Could there be more red cubes than blue ones? How?

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Could there be more yellow cubes than green and brown ones together? How?

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Once you had one solution, how could you use that to help you get another one?

Scaffolding the learning

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Could there be a lot of cubes on the left and only a few on the right? Why or why not?

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What do you have to do to keep the balance balanced?

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Suppose you used 2 blue, 2 green and 2 brown cubes on one side. What could you do on the other side?

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How could you use adding and subtracting to help you?

What’s the point of this task?

An understanding of equality as the notion of balance is critical for student success in both number and

algebra. This task helps build that understanding. At the same time it allows students to practice addition

and subtraction skills.

Because the task is open–ended and does not specify how many cubes to use, students can work with

numbers that are comfortable for them. Because the task asks for three colours on one side and two

colours on the other, students will have to be more thoughtful than if they could simply duplicate the same

numbers on both sides.

Extending the learning

Students might be challenged to change the rules so that the left side of the balance is MUCH lower than

the right side.

Patterns