Puzzle
Math puzzles are one of the best -- and oldest -- ways to encourage student engagement. Make sure the puzzles are the right level for your class If the problems are too easy, students will get bored and disengage from the lesson. However, if the problems are too difficult to solve, there’s a good chance they’ll get frustrated and give up early. There’s a time and a place While math puzzles are a great way to engage your students in developing critical thinking skills, they’re not a tool for teaching important math concepts. Instead, use them to reinforce the concepts they’ve already learned. Kitty Rutherford , a Mathematics Consultant in North Carolina, emphasizes that math puzzles and games shouldn’t be based solely on mental math skills , but on “conceptual understanding” that builds fluency over time. Math puzzles help build the essential balance between thinking and remembering. ACTIVITY Find the value of the given puzzle . PUZZLE FOR YOU