I Notice, I Wonder, I Predict, I Think

Module 3 Act Task - Content Link

1 How many Whoppers will fit in jar? https://gfletchy.com/the-whopper-jar/
Multiplica
tion and Sam Houston http://wmh3acts.weebly.com/sam-
Division houston.html
Problems
2-5 and
10 Cover the Floor (arrays) https://gfletchy.com/cover-the-floor/

2- Train Passing - Elapsed Time https://gfletchy.com/all-aboard/

Telling
Time/Met How much water - Measuring Liquid https://gfletchy.com/the-water-boy
ric
Measure
ment/Rou
nding

3
Multiplica Apple’s Solar Farm http://www.101qs.com/2836
tion/Divisi
on 0,1, 6-
9 and 10

4 The Big Pad (area) https://gfletchy.com/the-big-pad/

Multiplica
tion and The Paper Cut (area) https://gfletchy.com/paper-cut/
Area
Tiles to cover a desk (area)
https://gfletchy.com/piles-of-tiles/

5 52 Card Pick Up http://wmh3acts.weebly.com/52-card-

Fractions pickup.html
on
Number
Line

7- Cookies http://wmh3acts.weebly.com/cookies.ht
Geometry ml
and
Measure
ment

6-
Collecting
/DIsplayin
g Data
Links to other 3 Act Tasks:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hc1ReIbdJZbEA3fO6DE457wu4AKOfi6BFxWLRBXO-
bA/edit#gid=0

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/1jXSt_CoDzyDFeJimZxnhgwOVsWkTQEsfqouLW
NNC6Z4/pub?output=html

https://mikewiernicki.com/3-act-tasks/

What is a 3 Act Task? Lowers barriers for entry to the content of a module. :Lots of different
students get status in these tasks.” Summary from Dan Meyer:
http://blog.mrmeyer.com/2013/teaching-with-three-act-tasks-act-three-sequel/:
Act 1: It’s visual. It requires very little literacy from the student. (Notice that I’m using very little
formal mathematical vocabulary.) It’s perplexing. Students are asked to look at a picture or watch a
video. Students are asked to pose a question. (But if you don’t have one, that’s okay!) Students are
asked to decide if they find someone else’s question interesting. Students are asked to guess at a
correct answer. Students are asked to decide what an incorrect answer would look like. No one is
throwing a hand up saying, “I don’t know where to start.” I don’t know how to make it easier to start
a modeling task than this.

I make three promises during act one.

1. I tell students I’m very curious who guessed closest to the answer.
2. I tell students I hope we’ll get around to answering all the questions on their list.
3. I ask students to set an error check on their answer.

I’ll need to make good on each of those promises by the end of act three.

Act 2: This is the guts of modeling right here. Students are grappling with the question, “What’s
important here and how would I get it?” We’re attending to precision. When students ask me for
information, I press them on units or I press them to clarify what they’re after, exactly. We get at
specific vocabulary terms and emphasize that we need those terms to communicate about the task.

Act 3: Show the video or picture that provides the answer to original question. There’s the
bombastic, visual element, the part that results in students cheering the answer to their math
problem. It’s hard for me to overvalue that reaction. But there’s another reason why students ought
to see the answer to modeling tasks. The Common Core’s modeling framework asks students to
“validate the conclusions” of their models. Showing the answer acknowledges the messiness inherent
to mathematical modeling and allows students to discuss possible sources of error and then account
for them with newer, better models.

Act I:
● It provides the visual – either a photo or video – intended to hook the viewer into the
task;
● It provokes questions.
 ● It poses a question that’s very short, that features little academic language, that leads to
a guess as well as more questions. Students are involved in defining the question.
● Possible Questions:
○ What do you notice?
○ What do you wonder?
○ What questions do you have?
○ What’s your guess?
○ What does a wrong answer look like?
○ What is an answer that would be way too high? Too low?

Act II:
● It’s the beginning of the modeling process.
● It asks, “What more information do you need to know to answer our question?”
● It asks, “How would you get it?”
● Students need to gather tools, information, and resources to answer the question.
● Once students decide what information they need, the teacher will give the information
she has.
● Teachers should be a resource here, including as someone who can explain the
differences between models and can demonstrate procedures.
● As students finish, the teacher should extend their thinking by posing sequel tasks or
asking two students to explore their different approaches.

Act III:
● It confirms the answer to the modeling task in the world itself, not in the answer key.
● It requires a conversation about sources of error. Why was our answer close but not
exact? What did our model not include that it should have? What did our model include
that it shouldn’t have?
● It states the objective of the day. Students come up with a title for their lesson. The
teacher provides her own. The students know what was intended to be learned.