3-Act
3-Act is a routine or structure for solving math in the context of real life videos or pictures. It lets the students "own" the math they are solving.
Act One – Establish the problem
Act one attempts to lower barriers to entry through a photo or video. It's visual! It requires very little literacy from the student. It's perplexing.
Act Two – Solving problem
Act Three – Reveal the answer
Act one attempts to lower barriers to entry through a photo or video. It's visual! It requires very little literacy from the student. It's perplexing.
- Students are asked to watch a video or view a photo.
- What do you notice, what do you wonder?
- Students are asked to pose a question. “What test questions might your teacher ask you about this?”
- Teacher decides which question to focus on. You can have kids decide too. Save other questions for sequel, homework, or other.
- Students are asked to guess at a correct answer.
- Students are asked to decide what an incorrect answer would look like. What estimates are too low? What estimates are too high? Establish a range of appropriate answers.
Act Two – Solving problem
- Teacher may ask "What information do you need from me? What information will be necessary here?" Students are responsible for determining what information they will need to solve the problem.
- Determine before hand what is the minimal amount of information you will provide, and only after it is requested. Provide the least amount of information possible.
- 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 coin vocabulary terms like "stack" and "layer" and emphasize that we need those terms to communicate about the task.
- Students work to solve the problem, preferably in groups of 2-4. Teacher selects groups to present strategies and responses in an attempt to highlight and make connections to important mathematical concepts. If you are familiar with the 5 Practices to for Orchestrating Productive Mathematics Discussions by Margaret S. Smith, that framework fits in great for Act 2.
Act Three – Reveal the answer
- Play the rest of the video or show second photo to see the answer or reveal the answer for them.
- Who got the closest?
- Talk about student errors
- Determine if there is a sequel. Determine if there are other questions worth investigating.
3-Act Problems
Dan Meyer - Ted Talk - Math Class Makeover
Dan Meyer - Ted Talk - Math Class Makeover
My Favorite 3-Act Problems |
Bucky the Badger by Dan Meyer (2nd – 4th)
http://mrmeyer.com/threeacts/buckythebadger/ In-N-Out Cheeseburger (4th – 8th) http://robertkaplinsky.com/work/in-n-out-100-x-100/ |