What is a Math POW and why is it useful?

By Michelle Tucker ©2010 Michelle Tucker

     Many teachers and schools are promoting that students do POWs - Problem of the Week.

     The Problem of the Week (POW) is useful in that, it requires higher order thinking skills.  The POW is like word problems because students need to read, think and solve.  The POW is different in these ways:  students do not readily find one numerical number as the answer, they think and try more, they are not intended to have a quick or simple answer and they have more real world application.  Students take their time, using the whole week to think, try out some possibilities and solve.  Students discover that there are several approaches that will get them to a solution.  Some approaches are more efficient than others.  Most importantly, students have to write out and explain their thinking in complete sentences.  Students have to discover the best method or strategy, show all their work and explain how they arrived at the answer.

     Here is an example of a POW from the website The Math Forum  at www.themathforum.org.
Flipping Coins
     Greg and Shelden made up a coin flipping game using one penny and one nickel.  The two coins are tossed at the same time.  If both coins land the same way, either both heads or both tails, Greg wins.  If not, Sheldon wins.
1. If they play the game 60 times, about how many times would you expect each player to win?
2. Is this a fair game?
[Mathematics consider a game to be fair if all players have an equal chance of winning].  Explain how you solved the problem.
     Tomorrow I will post the answer to this POW on this blog.