Teaching Tips: Staircases of Shangri-La

Here are some Frame, Focus and Follow-up suggestions for using this video in a math lesson.

What is Frame, Focus and Follow-up?

Frame: Looking at the rate at which something increases can be interesting. If there are two jobs and the first job pays a dollar a day for thirty days, and the other one pays one cent on the first day and then doubles each day for thirty days, which job pays more over the course of 30 days?

Focus: As you watch, look carefully at the two sets of steps. Digit says, “Our steps are so much smaller, we’ll never catch up to him.” Look for a possible pattern in the way both set of steps increase, and decide whether or not you agree with Digit.

Follow Up: Do you believe that if the stairs continue to appear in the same way they are now, that Hacker will reach the top first? Why or why not? Is it possible to write about what you see using numbers? Is there a pattern?