Overview

Skill in making and justifying conjectures, as well as generating and interpreting multiple approaches to solving a problem, are important in teaching. Different approaches make different aspects of the mathematics visible. In addition, students may use and understand different approaches. This means that teachers need skill in analyzing approaches and conjectures and explaining how a particular conjecture is or is not justifiable.

This part introduces a mathematics problem that involves making and justifying conjectures, as well as generating and interpreting multiple approaches to solving a problem. Work and insights from this activity will be the basis for other parts of this session and Session 2.