Make a List
What is a problem?
Why teach problem solving?
Strategies
Resources
Inset
Page Index
Prompt poster: PDF 
Printable versions: PDF Word 
Pizza Parlour
Sam visited the Pizza Parlour. On the menu there were ten different choices of toppings:
Cheese, Tomato, Pepperoni, Ham, Chicken, Onions, Peppers, Pineapple, Mushroom, Beef
Sam decided to choose three toppings to go on his pizza. How many different pizzas could he make?
Faced with this sort of problem children often begin by using random choices. The creation of the pizzas becomes the perceived solution rather than the strategy of recording in a list systematically.
| Questions to ask | Purpose |
|---|---|
| How do you make a pizza? | This establishes the understanding of the rules. |
| How can you be sure that you have not used the same combination twice? | Allows discussion of the importance of keeping track of what has been done. And the importance of developing or planning a systematic approach. |
| How do you know when you have found all of the pizzas? | Establish the need to find all possible combinations. |