Many Too Many Small Boxes and Maru 2
Video found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am3NVGP9rkQ
This video shows 4 different sized boxes and a cat, Maru, who tries to fit inside them. The video presents a “competition” between the boxes and which one the cat ends up choosing as his favorite. The math problem that I would present would be to ask the students to predict the sizes of the boxes. They would list the boxes they thought was the smallest to the largest. The students would also predict which box they think Maru will choose in the end; extra credit for the students who choose correctly. The students would measure the screen on the computer to find the height, length, and width of each box. Then they would solve for the volume for the 4 boxes. After everyone has found the volume the teacher would play the video to the end for the students to see the outcome.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.MD.C.5.B
Apply the formulas V = l × w × h and V = b × h for rectangular prisms to find volumes of right rectangular prisms with whole-number edge lengths in the context of solving real world and mathematical problems.
This is a great idea and I loved the video! It was very fun to watch! Finding volume for the four boxes was also the first thing that I thought students could measure mathematically, but then I thought, what if this event was a “chance event”? What if Maru were to play this game again? Would he choose the same boxes? What is the probability that in the end he chooses the small box in x trials? I believe another problem that could be generated form this video is observing frequency to predict probability. This aligns with CCSS.Math.Content.7.SP.6: Approximate the probability of a chance event by collecting data on the chance process that produces it and observing its long-run relative frequency, and predict the approximate relative frequency given the probability. For example, when rolling a number cube 600 times, predict that a 3 or 6 would be rolled roughly 200 times, but probably not exactly 200 times.