Count Without Counting

Author: Javier Ronquillo Rivera

This course is good for someone who…

  • Can differentiate with ease and knows how to push students to different levels of engagement with problems. 

  • Understands how to foster productive struggle.

This course features…

  • Math problems that are considered classics such as “the 1,000 locker problem”, as well as math enrichment topics such as the Pigeonhole Principle.

  • Lessons built around prioritizing student inquiry, with many lessons focused around one big problem that can be broken down in multiple stages.

  • An introduction to college-level concepts such as set theory and the notion of “bijection” in an age-appropriate way.

Sample Problem

How can we count without listing one by one the number of different initial lineups for a basketball team that has 10 players in total?

Note: The game Chomp, which appears in this course, also appears in Games and Strategies.