Can You Solve The Locker Problem?

Starting their first year at DRSS in 6th grade all the way through their senior year, students are taught using a wide variety of instructional strategies. One of those strategies is inquiry-based instruction, where students are presented with a question or a problem and then learn the skills needed to solve that problem.

In Brittany Shores 6th grade math class students used this method to solve "the locker problem." Students were presented with the following prompt:

Can you solve the locker problem?! Imagine there are 1,000 students and 1,000 lockers that are all closed. Student 1 goes down the row and opens every locker. Student 2 goes down the row and closes every other locker. Student 3 changes the state of ever 3rd locker. Student 4 changes every 4th locker. This pattern continues until all 1,000 students have had a turn. When all the students are done, which lockers will be left open?

Below you can find pictures of some of the ways in which students attempted to investigate this problem in Mrs. Shores' class, followed by a video in which they test out their concept.

Check out the video below to watch as students simulate the locker problem to test out whether or not their math was correct!

For more about what makes instruction at DRSS unique, check out our website!