Who Owns The Monkey?Task 116 ... Years 4 - 10SummaryA popular task with cards for students to physically manipulate in order to solve a logic problem. Clue cards provide some 'certain' information and enough detail so that missing information can be decided by a process of elimination. The cleverness of the clues and the task name is that nearly all the cards have to be on the grid before the last few cards (including the Monkey card) can be placed. It is not necessary that the problem is solved in one sitting. However, students frequently want to keep working on it until the solution appears. |
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IcebergA task is the tip of a learning iceberg. There is always more to a task than is recorded on the card. |
These young ladies are trying the problem around the kitchen table. (See Library Kit for more details about Home/School Lending and Maths Around The Kitchen Table.)
Eventually they solved the problem (the Malaysians own the monkey)...
...and given their kitchen table is in The Netherlands they probably increased their English fluency a little too. Once it is solved, the next question is How did the designer come up with the problem?. The most likely answer is that (s)he came up with the story line, set out the cards and then invented the clues. This realisation suggests the possibility of the students making up a similar problem of their own. They could begin by laying the cards out in any order based on the houses and constructing their own set of clues. This is not an easy exercise. There needs to be just enough clues to make the problem interesting and solvable, but the clues must not conflict. The students would need to draft their clues and trial them on others before 'releasing' them to the public. For example, Tim Wilson-Brown, at the time a student in Armidale NSW, prepared this alternative set of clues to Who Owns The Monkey. Note: All left/right references are to your left and right.
The solution to this second set of clues is:
Both Monkey puzzles have a unique answer. But it may be more exciting to explore a problem with multiple solutions. More experienced students might like to alter one or other set of clues slightly to create the puzzle Who Might Own The Monkey? which would respond to the mathematician's questions:
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Whole Class InvestigationTasks are an invitation for two students to work like a mathematician. Tasks can also be modified to become whole class investigations which model how a mathematician works. |
This task is a partner (in terms of content) to Who Lives Where?, Diamonds & Rectangles, Police Line Up and others in the set. Selecting several such tasks can be the source of a Language and Logic menu-based unit. However, words matter in this task so you might prefer to build a strong literacy component around the language of the card. Consider producing the clues in large form - poster or word processed and projected (you cannot photocopy the card) - to generate discussion. Also consider creating A5 size house, car, pet, drink and nationality cards. Most of these are words so you could just hand write them. The others can be easily created using clip art or photos from the web. Given there are twenty-five cards involved, in most classes, one card could be assigned to each student while the clues are on public display. Students are then responsible for the placement of their own card while simultaneously being part of the general class debate. The teacher's role is to:
A variation on this approach is to write the clues on strips of paper - one clue per strip - and give one strip to each pair. It is the pair's responsibility to make sure there clue is taken into account. For more ideas and discussion about this investigation, open a new browser tab (or page) and visit Maths300 Lesson 190, Who Owns The Monkey?, which includes two alternative clue sets, masters for preparing a class set of cards and details for presenting the task as part of a Menu Maths approach. It also suggests further extensions, some of which connect the investigation to the mathematics of selections and arrangements. |
Is it in Maths With Attitude?Maths With Attitude is a set of hands-on learning kits available from Years 3-10 which structure the use of tasks and whole class investigations into a week by week planner. |
The Who Owns The Monkey task is an integral part of:
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