SOLVING A SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM

The Mangoes Problem Sample Response

The following response was written by a student. We scored it using the scoring guide as follows:

RIGHT ANSWER: 18 mangoes!
UNDERSTANDING: Noticed pattern--each person got 3 mangoes.
STRATEGY: Did not provide rationale for choice of strategy.
COMMUNICATION: Described solution step-by-step with pictures.
REASONABLE RESULT: This student did not show us that she checked her answer.
SCORE:

4
4
3
4
0
15/5=3.0

Step 1 - The King, Queeen, Prince, Princess and Dog all ate a fraction of the mangoes. How many mangoes were there originally.

Step 2

King ate 1/6
Queen ate 1/5
Prince ate 1/4
Princess ate 1/3
dog ate 1/2
3 are left

Step 3 - Strategy - work backwards, pictures

Basket	OOO
Dog	OOO OOO
Princess	OOO OOO OOO
Prince	OOOO OOOO OOOO
Queen	OOOOO OOOOO OOOOO
King	OOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOO

Step 4 - To find the answer I made a picture while working backwards. I knew that the dog ate half of the mangoes so the 3 mangoes had to be doubled. Then to follow the pattern I kept adding three.

Step 5 - Everyone ate three mangoes. Then we knew that there was 18 mangoes in the basket.