MAT150 BSc06 Wheelock College / SEED Institute Entry 2

Sample Test Item

Practice for Test on Saturday

Ms Mitra is preparing small gift packs for the children in her class.

Each pack consists of
- three pencils
- a ruler
- five pieces of milk candies

She already has a large box of 50 pencils and 100 pieces of milk candies.
She has access to any number of rulers she needs.

Task (a) [5 points]
Work out the largest number of gift packs Ms Mitra can make.

Task (b) [5 points]
Make a sketch of a figure that can be folded into a box to hold the pencils, ruler and milk candies.
State the assumptions you make and label the dimensions.

Task (c) [5 points]
Name or describe the problem-solving heuristics you used to solve the 'problem'.
Explain why the task is a problem to a primary-level child.

Task (d) [5 points]
Explain how this task can be modified for it to be suitable for K2 children.

Each task can be completed in about 15 minutes.

MAT150 BSc06 Wheelock College / SEED Institute Entry 1

Welcome to the course on mathematical problem solving with extension to other domains!

You must have received the course information by now and should be doing the pre-course task.
Please submit this during class on 29th October 2012.

Other than that, there is no other preparation you need to make except to come to class and participate in the problem-solving process and distil some pedagogical principles in teaching problem solving to children in the domain of numeracy and other domains.

See you in class.



Children did some artwork after learning about Great Fire 1666 that happened in London. This is at a school in London. Students created buildings using straws and coloured paper. What problems can students solve as they are preparing to create their art piece? There is always problem-solving opportunity in all the activities that children do.