Private Universe - Workshop 3 Inventing Notations

As I watched this video all I could think about was how important it is to allow students to express themselves in their own ways. When we allow the students to explore and in turn explain their thinking they learn so much more than simply feeding them the process and the right answers. When we give them the time to develop their own processes and proof we are allowing them to become problem solvers and thinkers and these skills will only benefit them in the future. This video sparked my interest and I wonder how my fourth grade students would go about solving this pizza problem and how they would display and prove their answers. I can't help but wonder will they make any connections to the tower problem that they were presented with weeks ago. I will be presenting this problem to my students and will bring the results to class to share.