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by Dave Youngs.
If there is a train wreck on the border between the United States and Canada,
where do they bury the survivors? Trick questions like this one are especially
appropriate on April Fool's Day, but can be fun any day of the year. These cleverly-crafted
questions often catch us off guard, yet once tricked, most of us are careful
not to be tricked again. Anyone who has been snared by the above question is
not likely to be fooled by it in the future. (If you have not encountered this
question before, try to determine why it is a trick question.) This month's
Puzzle Corner is a collection of five trick questions that will require
careful reading and thinking on the part of your students, in order to be answered
correctly. Most students should enjoy answering these questions --once they
discover that they are tricky. Many will want to take these questions home to
share with their families.
Some educators disparage trick questions like the ones presented in this activity.
They feel that the questions have no part in the mathematics classroom, calling
them confusing and counterproductive for students. While I can understand this
feeling, I believe that the initial confusion can lead to something quite productive
for students -- the realization that these questions need to be read critically
before they are answered. The higher level of thinking that this entails is
quite valuable and well worth any initial frustration students may feel when
trying to answer questions of this sort.
When you introduce these puzzles to your class, you'll have to decide if you
want to tell the students ahead of time that these are trick questions or let
them find this out on their own. For me, the latter option is preferable. Once
students discover they have been tricked, they are not as likely to be tricked
again and will read the remaining questions more carefully.
April Puzzlers
I hope you and your students enjoy these puzzlers!
Puzzle Corner
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