Coffee Problem, Summer Academy, GVSU

Eleanor Duckworth
From the Annenberg Series
CCC CCCC
MM MMM
Eleanor at the chalkboard.

7:14 Teacher: So what does that…

CCC CCC C 7:15 Teacher: So, for me that means that they are equal.
MM MM M ****************************************************
7:19 Teacher: So you have this part that [participant goes to the
board to use the posted representation] has the exact same
“milkiness” as this part, but there is more of it. And, you are
adding the exact same amount of coffee to each. So the
6:17 Eleanor: Someone broke them up this way. [Drawing on
coffee is going to have less of an effect, less of a coffee
the chalkboard.]
effect on this [4Cs and 3Ms] than it will on this [3Cs and
6:30 Eleanor: This is one cup of coffee and this is the other cup 2Ms].
of coffee.
7:36 Eleanor: Stop and ask people if they agree.
6:32 Oh.
7:37 Teacher: Do you agree with that?
6:34 Eleanor: Okay? And they said, I can’t remember what it
was. That this [pointing to the CCC/MM in the first
mixture] as this [pointing to the CCC/MM in the second ****************************************************
mixture]. And these [the C/M left over in the second
mixture] cancel each other out. So they are the same
“milkiness.”
6:48 Teacher: But they don’t cancel each other out.
6:52 Teacher: I am looking at your set up but I am not looking at
the C and M—the right side that is being added. Instead, I
am looking at the left side of each set up and I see 1 extra C
at the end of each. So for me that’s what makes it work out.
I am not thinking in terms of anything canceling out. And I
see, okay, each one of these has an extra C.

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Coffee Problem, Summer Academy, GVSU

8:37 Teacher: So we start

CCCC Let’s put the coffee in here. [CCCC, fills the top row of 4x4
MMM grid.] This coffee and 3 milk in here. [MMM in 3x3 grid.]
All right? Put the 3 coffee in here and 3 milk in here.
C C C C Right? So now we are going to pour the same amount into
C C C C each and see which one finishes first. And so CCCC and
MMM. And we do the CCC and the MM. [Writes over one
C C C C of the 3 Ms and adds a second.] Okay, we have the same
amount in. Now let’s do it again. Pour some more in.
CCCC and MMM. And, pour the same in here. CCC and
MM. Okay, this one is full so the game has to end here.
M M M And, in that scenario, oh…no, actually it doesn’t have to end
there because this one you can still pour more in because it
M M M can still fill, right? So you go CCC and MM. Now this one
M M M can’t fill up any more. So this one is full. This one has one
left (empty) in it. So and if you look at the tops, we are going
to pour the same amount, right? This one has more milk…
CCC 9:36 [class murmurs in agreement]
MM 9:37 …than that one.
C C C C 9:38 Oh, cool.
C C C C
******************************************************
C C C C

9:47 Since we have to stop, I want to know what it was like. If

any body has a minute to say what this is all like.
M M M
M M M
M M

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