Title: Do you think this is a reasonable math prbolem for a 4th grader? Source:
[None] URL Source:[None] Published:May 24, 2016 Author:me Post Date:2016-05-24 16:48:35 by no gnu taxes Keywords:None Views:2158 Comments:30
John saves $1 on day 1, $3 on day 2, $6 dollars on day 3, 10 dollars on day 4 and so on.
Given this pattern, how long will it take John to save $165?
This seems like at the very least a 7th grade problem.
Thinking like a 4th grader I would wonder what the question was getting at. They have their head filled with so much other crap that extrapolating a pattern out of a seemingly random (at first) set of numbers... seems like insanity. And with no algebraic background to back up the higher level of thinking, I would assume they have little basis to solve the problem with.
No wonder they go on to political science or psychology; at least then they can make stuff up and no one will call them out on it!
This is a common question on the SATs -- determining the pattern of numbers. But if the kids were being taught patterns in class, this problem isn't that bad.
But throwing this problem out of the blue at a ten-year-old would stump him.
