A Challenging Week
In the spring semester of the eighth grade computer programming class, students use their newly learned skills in logical analysis to solve a problem involving ropes and knots. The problem begins with two boys intertwined with ropes, and getting free involves thinking, not pulling.
“In all my years at St. Bernard’s I have only seen one boy figure out the solution,” said Mr. Grossblatt. “It was all he thought about for three weeks. He carried two strings around with him all the time and would work on the problem during spare moments in school and at home.”
This week Mr. St. Clair gave his seventh grade math students a brain teaser as well. They had ten minutes to solve the Singaporean word problem that recently went viral and was written about in the Washington Post. In it a girl tells two boys partial information about the date of her birthday and then gives them a list of ten possible dates. When time was up some students were nearing the solution, while the others were on to the next perplexing question: “Why would girls ever play games like this?” And so the challenges continue.
