Fermi Questions

I was at a session by Bernajean Porter and she directed us to a site of Fermi questions. I have been pursuing learning/thinking/producing rather than teaching/researching/consuming for a long time now (still learning!). I love the resource for open-ended questions.

Have you ever tied to sit down with a colleague and tried to make critical questions for a particular unit? If you have you know how difficult they can be to come up with. The questions below may not help with your particular unit, but they are a beginning. The Fermi question site has a ton of great ideas. Some examples:

1. How many water balloons will it take to fill the school gymnasium?

2. How many flat toothpicks would fit on the surface of a sheet of poster board?

3. How many hot dogs will be eaten at major league baseball games during a one year season?

4. How many revolutions will a wheel on the bus make during our seventh grade trip from Baton Rouge, LA to Washington, D.C.?

5. How many minutes will be spent on the phone by middle school students in the United States?

6. How many pizzas will be ordered in your state this year?

I plan to use this site often. Check out the critical thinking page on our class blog.