The purpose, or objective, of the candy bar project was to complete a brain teaser in which the participant was asked to find out using polya’s strategies of problem solving how many breaks it would take to make 12 equal pieces of one candy bar. In Polya’s problem solving method there are four steps, or principles. Polya’s First Principle was to understand the problem. This seems so obvious that it is often not even mentioned, yet students are often stymied in their efforts to solve problems simply because they don’t understand it fully, or even in part. Polya taught teachers to ask students questions. Polya’s Second Principle was to Devise a plan. Polya mentions that there are many reasonable ways to solve problems. The skill at choosing an appropriate strategy is best learned by solving many problems. You will find choosing a strategy increasingly easy. Polya’s Third Principle is to carry out the plan. This step is usually easier than devising the plan. In general, all you need is care and patience, given that you have the necessary skills. Persist with the plan that you have chosen. If it continues not to work discard it and choose another. Don’t be misled, this is how mathematics is done, even by professionals. Polya’s Fourth Principle is finally to look back. Polya mentions that much can be gained by taking the time to reflect and look back at what you have done, what worked, and what didn’t. Doing this will enable you to predict what strategy to use to solve future problems.
From this I learned to name and explain the steps in the problem-solving process, solve a problem by applying the problem-solving process, and explain what the word algorithm means.
Challenges that me and my group faced during this project were coming up with an original design to carry out on the software. I personally have difficulty in creative projects like the one presented to us, and thus had to work hard to create the design we presented. If I were able to redo the project I would probably try drawing a design out before I began working.
I thought that the collaboration in my group was very good. Rather than dividing the work between us, we decided to work on it together while one of us acted as a scribe. I thought that this worked very well for us as neither one of us was missing out on a portion of the project.
If provided the opportunity to do this project again I think I would have been wiser in my methods of solving, but otherwise was satisfied with my work.
From this I learned to name and explain the steps in the problem-solving process, solve a problem by applying the problem-solving process, and explain what the word algorithm means.
Challenges that me and my group faced during this project were coming up with an original design to carry out on the software. I personally have difficulty in creative projects like the one presented to us, and thus had to work hard to create the design we presented. If I were able to redo the project I would probably try drawing a design out before I began working.
I thought that the collaboration in my group was very good. Rather than dividing the work between us, we decided to work on it together while one of us acted as a scribe. I thought that this worked very well for us as neither one of us was missing out on a portion of the project.
If provided the opportunity to do this project again I think I would have been wiser in my methods of solving, but otherwise was satisfied with my work.