Term 2 Week 3 Math Would you rather

Math Starter - I found a link by accident to Would You Rather..?  math starters to look at thinking and ways of thinking through a math problem. I have started this week with the class and they have been a success!  

Would you rather?

The idea is to pose 2 options and the students have to logically think through and compute what option they would rather have - there is not necessarily a correct answer as it depends on the way their thinking goes.  For example:

Would you rather have $100.00 now or $1.00 a day until your next birthday? 

This was a great one to start off with as it enabled a rich discussion to happen as the students realised that when their birthday was as a deciding factor and then had to calculate how long till their next birthday. The discussion afterwards was based around the strategy they used to work it out - very very successful! Feeling very chuffed about it!

Examples

The students work individually initially through the problem making their own decision - my reasoning for this is that everyone has the opportunity to do their own thinking and come to their own conclusions before sharing with a buddy.  

I thought that some students may change their minds after sharing but this wasnt the case. ALL students stuck to their initial reasoning - and the students who find math more challenging were all able to participate on the same level as the other students as their reasoning was just as valid. Through the sharing process afterwards strategies were shared - ranging from the simple counting on and counting back to advanced multiplicative - all students were exposed to this range of thinking.