March Magma Mondays are here!
This month’s theme is Comparing Strategies. You can find the March problems in the Magma Mondays (March edition)book when creating a new assignment. If you need help locating them, start a chat with us — we’re happy to help.
Making Strategy Visible
In February, we focused on how students represent their thinking. This month, Magma Mondays highlights how students decide where to begin. The goal is to surface, compare, and discuss different solution paths, not just correct answers.
For every grade band, you’ll find three intentionally sequenced problems. The first is accessible with multiple entry points. The second requires more deliberate organization. The third is the most extending and is designed to make strategy choice visible.
Example Magma Monday Problem (High School)
This problem is not about writing an equation first. It is about deciding how to organize the constraints. Some students may start by pushing Station C to its maximum and testing feasibility. Others may begin by placing minimum amounts at each station and distributing the remaining bikes. Still others may formalize the constraints symbolically.
The conversation becomes richer when students explain why they chose their starting point and how they knew they could not go higher.
How to Launch March Magma Monday
Trends to Listen For
Students identifying which constraint matters most
Students revising an initial strategy after testing a case
Students justifying why a maximum is truly the greatest possible
Next Steps in the Classroom
Select two visibly different solution approaches to compare publicly
Ask students what each strategy made easier or harder
Discuss how strategy choice affected the process, not just accuracy
March is about helping students see that choosing an approach is part of doing mathematics. We are excited to see the strategies your students bring to the work.