All in a jumble
My measurements have got all jumbled up! Swap them around and see if you can find a combination where every measurement is valid.
Problem
All in a Jumble printable Card Set 1
All in a Jumble printable Card Set 2
All in a Jumble printable Card Set 3
My measurements have got all jumbled up!
Move the entries in the table to the correct place until all the measurements match up sensibly. For some items there are a few numbers which might be valid. You have to juggle them to find a combination where every measurement is valid.
This page will be different every time you load it or refresh it - so if you have unscrambled one set of measurements, you can try a new set.
Getting Started
Start with the items that you are most confident about.
Student Solutions
Chelsea from the Thomas Deacon Academy suggested a strategy for tackling this problem:
To solve All in a Jumble you must first solve the common sense solutions which you already know of.
This may take some of the jumbled questions off your list.
Secondly you cross off the answers you definitely know are incorrect.
You may have about 5-6 questions left. If you do not know these then you could take a guess.
At least you know you have got most of the questions right by common sense!
Teachers' Resources
Why do this problem?
The problem presents many different quantities and units. It involves thinking about large and small numbers and 'back of an envelope' estimations and unit conversions. It offers an ideal opportunity for class discussion and convincing arguments.
Possible approach
Ask students to work in pairs, so they must discuss and convince each other. Students could write how many they get correct each time they check. With some classes, it may be appropriate to encourage students to write out their estimating processes and unit conversions, in their exercise books. Students could also record useful numerical facts.
The following sets of cards are available if you want students to work away from the computer.
Card Set 1
Card Set 2
Card Set 3
There is also an answer sheet available.
Key questions
Which of the units could be used here?
Which of the items are easiest/hardest?
What do you know that is relevant here?
Possible support
Print a few copies of the card sets and ask students to identify all the items on one sheet which measure length, say. They could delete all other items and all inappropriate units. In small groups, ask students to estimate the different lengths in any units of their choice, and convert these estimates to other sensible units. Based on this working, ask them to match up item, number and unit for all the lengths. Then they can do the same with mass, capacity and so on.
Possible extension
A Question of Scale explores ordering quantities with different orders of magnitude.