COME ON DOWN ... THE PRIZE IS RIGHT IN YOUR CLASSROOM

Because of their unusual nature and the unfamiliarity of our students with doing such elaborate mathematical projects, shorter assignments like completing an analysis already begun in class are generally much more effective, especially in non-major courses. Appropriately pitched, these assignments make very good special projects for small groups, and they are excellent for oral presentations or as alternatives to term papers.

BENEFITS OF USING TPIR

Through these TPIR projects, the goals of using simple analytical tools to solve a wide variety of problems and improving students' overall mathematical reasoning and problem-solving skills are advanced. We like them because they reinforce the notion that mathematics is accessible and can be enjoyable. Studying these games provides a natural setting for introducing various topics since they are loaded with mathematics just waiting to be explored. Students who are familiar with TPIR tend to be predisposed to enjoy the exploration. In fact, according to Bob Barker, college students are one of TPIR'S largest viewer demographic groups [I].

By presenting mathematical questions that are close to their own experiences, this TPIR-based approach can help weak or math-anxious students reduce their belief that mathematics is inaccessible and too abstract. Students tend to show more interest in the analysis because they are curious about the results. As long as the level of difficulty is appropriate, the exploration of these games becomes accessible. Students take ownership of the problems they solve and gain confidence in their own mathematical abilities. In addition to benefiting the weak mathematics student, these projects can also reinvigorate the strong students who are sometimes underserved in class (especially in liberal arts mathematics classes). Furthermore, in developing and presenting their projects, students have the opportunity to use software packages for presentations, spreadsheets, graphics, computations, or video editing. Someday, a project may even benefit a student who appears as a contestant on The Price is Right.

CAUTIONS

While it's a luxury to have several pricing games from which to choose, we urge that stage games be chosen carefully, with close attention paid to the level of difficulty and mathematical content. These games can be very easy or impossibly difficult to analyze, so working out solutions ahead of time is essential. Doing so not only alleviates the problems associated with inappropriately-pitched student projects, but it also avoids the embarrassment of not being able to explain a particular game during class. There's no feeling quite like getting part of the way through an explanation of how, say, Three Strikes works and realizing that its analysis is much more sophisticated than was originally thought. This could have a backlash effect by reinforcing what some students already think - that mathematics really is inaccessible.

Open-ended mathematical exploration is generally new to students, so be prepared to lend much assistance. As needed, make sure students ask the right questions, help them select appropriate mathematical notation, lead them to solutions, and preview their presentations. It may be necessary to help them with non-mathematical aspects as well: arrange for video clips and a means to show them, develop graphics for diagrams, prepare presentations, etc.