Dear Students,
Problem of the Week (POW) present you with an opportunity to investigate complex, interesting problems. Their purpose is to focus on the process of solving complex problems. You will be evaluated on your ability to show, explain, and justify your work and thoughts. Save all of your work, including what does not work, in order to write about the processes you used to reach your answer.
Completion of a POW includes four parts:
Problem Statement: State the problem clearly in your own words so that anyone reading your paper will understand the problem you intend to solve.
Process and Solutions: Describe in detail your thinking and reasoning as you work from start to finish. Explain your solution and how you know it is correct. Add diagrams when it helps your explanation. Include what you do that does not work and changes you make along the way. If you do not complete this problem, describe what you do know and where and why you are stuck.
Reflection: Reflect about your learning and your reaction to the problem. How do you prove is your solution is correct? What mathematics did you learn from it? What did you learn about your math problem solving strategies? Is this problem similar to any other problems you have done before? If yes, how?
Attached work: Include all your work and notes. Your scratch work is important because it is a record of your thinking. Do not throw anything away.