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by Dave Youngs
Is is against the law for a man to marry his widow's sister? Trick questions
like this one almost always pique our interest. We usually delight in these
cleverly crafted riddles and brain teasers that 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 trick
math questions that will require careful reading and thinking on the part of
your students, if they are to be answered correctly. Hopefully, students will
take the same delight in these problems (once they discover that they are tricky)
that they would in figuring out riddles or trick questions like the one above.
Some educators disparage trick questions like the ones included in this activity.
They feel that they have no part in the mathematics classroom, calling them
confusing and counterproductive for students. While I can understand why they
might feel this way, I believe that the initial confusion can lead to something
quite productive for students --the realization that these problems need to
be read critically before they are answered. The higher-level thinking that
this entails is quite valuable and well worth any initial frustration students
may feel when working on problems of this sort.
When you introduce these problems to your class, you'll have to decide if you
want to tell them 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 future questions more carefully.
Puzzling Problems Good Luck and enjoy! |
