Three-act tasks are a useful addition to the repertoire of elementary school problem-solving
activities. These tasks use images, action, and sound to convey situations, providing a different
set of entry-points for learners than typical story problem solving offers. The three-act task
lesson structure is designed to engage children in modelling with mathematics. Three-act tasks
demonstrate a new take on problem solving: how to provide multiple entry points for our
learners, leverage their intuitive understandings of the world around them to make sense of
and solve problems, and engage them in rich mathematical modelling.
In this webinar we will discuss a couple of examples of 3-Act tasks designed by Dan Meyer and
Graham Fletcher and unpack them to understand how and why our students would benefit
from these rich tasks.