Challenge and Initiative

One of the problems in homework that was due on Friday asked the students "How big is your bike?" "Can you solve this problem?" The problem was from the Creative Publication's Primary Math Problems of the Day. There had been some earlier problems that provided enough information for students to solve the problem as well as some that did not. This was the first really open-ended problem in this area. Quite a few of the students found a way to solve this, measuring the length and/or height of their bikes using tools such as a ruler or a tape measure. One student reported that she did not have a bike. A few students had simply written "No" as an answer. When questioned, they said they did have bikes, but either they were not sure what to measure about the bike or were unsure what tool to use. "I know we have a tape measure somewhere, but I didn't know where it was." 

I used this as an opportunity to talk about "Initiative." I told my students that they are all smart (which is true!), but being smart only gets you so far. You also should take initiative and think creatively. I then asked the group to think about tools and materials we have used to measure things before, which include a variety of standard and non-standard measurement tools. I also asked what additional things we could use if we did not have a ruler or tape measure at home. Students came up with ideas using everything from string (you could cut a piece of string as long as your bike, then bring it to school to measure) to a crayon (see how many crayons long your bike is.) I then asked the bike owners who had not found a way to say how big their bikes were to take the sheet home and measure their bikes this weekend.