Would You Rather?

 I would like to thank Mrs Bruner for this site.  Its called "Would You Rather?". This site has some wonderful pictures with questions for students to ponder.

The one she shared on Twitter showed a picture of bananas displayed in the produce section and a second picture showing the bananas being weighted.

The question asks whether you would pay so much per banana or so much per pound.  The author then asks people to justify their selection using mathematics.

The site is authored by John Stevens.  He has provided eleven pages of these "Would you rather?" situations covering everything from food, to clothing, to board games and other things.  Each one presents a situation with option A or option B.  These are designed so there is not a "right" answer but students are required to support their choice through mathematics.

This justification requires students to communicate their thoughts, stimulates mathematical thinking and discussion.  Furthermore, when they can communicate their thinking, they are improving their understanding of mathematics while applying it to real world situations.

Although I'm more interested in the ones designed for older students, John has created two pages worth for Kindergarten to Second so the little ones can begin learning to share their thinking mathematically.  In addition, he's grouped the material for K-2, 3-5, 6-8, or 9-12 so if you have a classroom filled with ELL students, you can say choose one from the 3-5 list but if you teach advanced 6th graders, you could pull one from the high school list.

Furthermore, John includes a sheet students can use as they answer the "Would you rather?" activity.  It has a column for option A, a second column for option B and a column between the two reminding them to break it down.  There is a spot for a conclusion under each column and two more at the bottom of the page where students fill in the prompt "I would rather" followed by "because."

For students who are not as able to communicate via writing, they can always communicate their thoughts via a medium such as Flipgrid or other verbal method.  There are other ways a student can express their answer regarding which they'd rather.

Check it out, add it to your day so students get a nice change of pace and work on learning to express themselves and their thinking.

Let me know what you think.  I'd love to hear.