When I was doing this puzzle, I felt that I spent a lot of time on researching things like the average height and length for a bike. Also, the information online is complex. I should choose the one that is most useful for this puzzle and transfer the units to make all units the same. “Teacher bird” makes me feel that it’s a very good way to test students' overall skills and make connections with math and real life. However, my “student bird” just makes me feel that I don’t want to do the research and units are annoying, but when I finally get an answer, all the process is worth it.
Extend this puzzle: Assume There is a house on fire near this water tank. How long is the minimum length of the water pipe and how long does it take to transport water to the house? Or, suppose there is a small town with only this one water tank. Where is the best location to put this water tank in the town so that all nearby houses can get water as soon as possible when they are on fire at the same time?
Thanks Krystal! I can sense some impatience here with the research element of things -- a wish just to solve the thing and move on. Thanks for noticing and acknowledging that, as I'm sure that many students might feel similar emotions. And yet if we want to help kids connect math with 'real life', there are often these kinds of messy details to deal with! Good extension problem and good solution.
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