Elicit non-trivial dialogue from students. Guide students to reflection and analysis of the experience. Encourage students to share their perceptions and beliefs. Summarize and review similarities and differences.
Class discussion on approach to problem; soup company problem.
Objective: Based on the wrapping paper experience, to define what is meant by maximizing and minimizing.
Activity: Teacher leads discussion eliciting feedback on how groups solved the problem. Connect problems to real world: a department store which provides gift wrap service would want to use the least amount of paper to provide the service yet maximize their profit. Another problem for groups to solve: a soup company wants to make soup cans to hold a given amount with the least amount of manufacturing material. How would soup cans be designed to maximize profit? What factors must be considered?
