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Differentiation TechniqueGet Ridiculous

Read The Overview: Get Ridiculous!

One technique for finding complexity in a topic is to look for the edge cases, the outliers, the really big or small versions.

Specific Examples of “Get Ridiculous”

Could we fit 1,000 kids on the playground? 10,000?

Could we fit 1,000 kids on the playground? 10,000?

If your students can find the area of a square then, armed with Google Earth, they can also figure out how many students you could pack into your school's playground.

Making Awful Graphs

Making Awful Graphs

Sometimes we can learn a lot by doing something the wrong way. Here are six ways your students can purposefully design awful, misleading graphs.

Thinking Like Equivalent Fractions

Thinking Like Equivalent Fractions

Go across disciplines by asking students to write a story about fraction equivalence.

Rewrite It, But Don’t Use “E”

Rewrite It, But Don’t Use “E”

Here's an interesting way to move students past mundane patterns in their writing. Ask for a rewrite, but without a letter (or two).

Prime Number Explorations

Students learn about prime numbers early in their careers, but the true, quirky nature of these numbers isn't really explored unless kids go on to become math majors. Here are three fun prime explorations suitable for even young students.

Thinking From Anything’s Perspective

How a small change, with very little effort on the teacher's part, leads to a delightfully complex task that can will get students thinking.

A Millionaire By Doubling Pennies

How long will it take to get a million dollars if you start with a penny and double it?

Beyond “Describe How This Changed Over Time”

I want to go beyond just listing how a character changed. Let's get students thinking about that change!

Think Like A Disciplinarian: The Common Problems

Think Like A Disciplinarian is a method for teaching students to approach concepts from an expert's point of view. You'll expose you class to new modes of thinking, teach subject–specific language, and develop questions that delve deeper into problems. As a bonus, students will learn about potential careers.

Think Like A Psychologist

Looking to help your students go deeper into any content area? One technique is to teach them to "Think Like A Disciplinarian." This idea, part of the Depth and Complexity Framework, teaches students to analyze ideas from the point of view of a specific profession or discipline.

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