No, it’s confusing. It’s the entire question that’s marked wrong. The correct answer is 9,4 and the answer is given as 7,4 so the entire thing is just one wrong answer instead of two. I can see how it’s confusing.
So she was able to correctly count 16-unit squares. I guess I’d ask how she got only 12 for 4-unit squares and only 7 for 9-unit squares. The way I would count them is just systematically to go:
X X . . .
X X . . .
. . . . .
. . . . .
. . . . .
. X X . .
. X X . .
. . . . .
. . . . .
. . . . .
. . X X .
. . X X .
. . . . .
. . . . .
. . . . .
. . . X X
. . . X X
. . . . .
. . . . .
. . . . .
for four squares; then down a row, repeat for another four; then down a row repeat for another four; and down one more row for four, for a total of 16. Since she got 12, it seems like she perhaps missed a row or column of squares?
For seven 9-unit squares, I’m not entirely sure how 7 would be arrived at, though.
But she got the four 16-unit squares. So what I would check is to see how she’s counting up the various x-unit squares within the larger square to get those answers.
I don’t know anything about elementary education theory but I cannot see anything to be gained by this exercise that is the least bit applicable to anything. I can see doing it as a classroom game, but not an assignment for a grade.
“I notice that they are all ages of people I know.”
“I notice that they are all less than one billion.”
“I notice that they are all correct.”
“I notice that none of them are divisible by 7.”
I grew up with checkmarks being wrong answers through grammar school and most my teachers in high school (80s and early 90s). Perhaps this varies by region. (ETA: Here’s a thread on a teacher’s board showing there is variation in its meaning.)
You may be about my age. Apparently this is a not-so-recent innovation in scoring. A teacher once told me, “It means they need to ‘check’ their answer.” It also does not come across as negatively as a big-ass X. This allows the student to focus on addressing why it’s wrong and learning from it, rather than stressing over the fact that they screwed up.
Perhaps he didn’t arrive at the simplest method for ensuring you get the count right.
Put a 2x2 square at the top left. Now you can move it right one … So thats a 2nd square, and you can move it right a third time… And then you can’t move it right any more… So move it down one… Then thats a new row of 2x2 squares, and move down … until you can’t move down any more.
So the number of rows and columns must be the original square with one row off the bottom, and one column off the right side… so a 4x4 changes to be a 3x3, and its still a square.
When you put the 3x3 and 4x4 on , the original squares sides are reduced by two and three respectively.
I asked my 6th grade class(ELA teacher here). They prefer red and “X”. However, I told them I would use purple pens for marking if they go buy them for me. Honestly…they looked pretty excited. I half-expect 20 purple pens coming in tomorrow.
As a teacher myself, just want to comment on the odd practice of flagging wrong answers with checks; I mark correct answers with checks (wrong ones are circled, or X’ed). I kept wondering why incorrect answers had checks next to them. Just an strange practice-carry on…
I’m not sure about that. If you grew up with checkmarks meaning “wrong,” they certainly come across as very negative. Nothing about checkmarks on a test seemed less negative to me than an “X.” Some teachers even used green ink to mark papers, because they thought it was “friendlier” or something than red ink, but even with those teachers, green checkmarks were not a welcome sight. (Though, I think there is something to the reaction to the color. Green doesn’t feel as aggressive as red to me, but check vs X makes no difference for myself. I might even go so far to say the check mark was more unfriendly looking to me, as they are big and sweeping off to the right. The teachers in college, at least, who used an X – and there must have been some in high school, but I can’t remember – all made their "x"es fairly small and succinct.)
I think the real problem is that you can only know the answers to this one after you know the mind of its creator. There is missing information that can’t come from anywhere except very generous guessing or assumption-making.
The reason those answers are wrong is that the question is wrong.
At the bottom, it says “Use with pages 336–337.” Presumably those pages provide the necessary context? I agree that it makes a difference whether you’ve seen these kinds of exercises before; but if you’re familiar with the genre, these particular ones aren’t all that difficult.
I tried to make that joke yesterday, but it did not work with the numbers. I…see you just went for it anyway.
I think it is doable, but hard for a little third grade mind. My daughter is not an “F” student by any means. She ranks herself third in intelligence in the class. Yes, she’s figured out where the other kids are in relation to her. Both kids who never get re-dos got re-dos on this one.
pulykamell, that’s exactly what I was going to say. Red Xs are intimidating precisely because they mark wrong answers. Any symbol you use instead is going to cause just as much stress.
Yes, but only because I apparently was unclear. I meant in the first set, where it asks how many squares are in the picture. There are 4, but the teacher has marked that answer incorrect. (This is question number 2).
Based on what Mr. Floppy and Doug K said, it looks like the teacher didn’t even look at the answer sheet, as it clearly said that “4 squares” was the correct answer.
