Yup.
DD balked this way at writing out dimensional analysis when she was about 8-- but her dad and I both know that there is wayyyyyy more at stake there than being able to convert units properly-- basically about 90% of quantitative determination is being able to recognize when you have the right quantities in the right locations in calculations, and following the units and making sure that they "come out" right is the KEY to doing them.
So we wanted her to very definitely view equivalent values as fractional conversion factors which equal one, and to WRITE.THEM.OUT.
She was very resistant because she could do the (simple) assigned conversions in her head just fine. Except, of course, when she got something turned upside down, which was about 20% of the tine.
Eventually, I came up with a story about Henrietta* the chicken, who was having a dinner party, but wanted things "just so" for her many guests... and needed the proportions of guests to cockroach appetizers, musical numbers, etc. to be perfect.
It was quite a complex problem-- far more complex than I've ever given to a freshman college student struggling with dimensional analysis, but it worked with DD.
Yes to making the problems HARD ENOUGH TO REQUIRE what you're seeking from them.
* Henrietta was a sort of barnyard Martha Stewart on a budget, as it happened... so she needed to make sure that she had planned out her shopping with her purchasing power in mind. (My own DD responds best to problems which are quirky or surreal. IMMV.)
Last edited by HowlerKarma; 06/09/13 11:12 AM.
