Can you solve it?! A New York City art challenge involves making sculptures from cans. The task is to determine the number of cans used in the engineering award-winning sculpture. Scholars consider the patterns in the different layers to construct a solution.

Concepts

patterns, number patterns, arithmetic sequences, arithmetic series

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Additional Tags

math

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Instructional Ideas

• Have pupils create a table showing their predictions for each level of the structure
• Ask older individuals to model the pattern with a sequence and series

Classroom Considerations

• Requires an understanding of area and patterns

Pros

• Adaptable to different grade levels
• Leaves the question open-ended to encourage multiple solution strategies

Cons

• None

Common Core

4.MD.A.3 5.MD.C.5.a 6.EE.A.1 7.G.B.6 HSF-LE.A.2 MP2 MP3 MP7