You hear the following conversation between two 5th grade students working on a computer-assisted spelling program that reports individual results as a statement such as “19 correct out of 20 or 95%.” Thom and Will are working independently at their own computer on a list of spelling words.
Thom: I only missed one this time! (His report showed that he got 15 correct out of 16 or 94%.)Design a task that you could use to engage students in the whole class to investigate the issue of the "broken computer" to help them develop an understanding of the underlying mathematics in this situation. How could technology help??
Will: Me, too! I got a 95. (He points to the screen and shows the other student. His report says that he got 19 correct out of 20 or 95%).
Thom: Hey, why did you get a 95 when I got a 94? We both only missed one. That’s not fair!
Will: I think your computer is broken.