Making a Puzzle

This Instructional Activity is a part of the Lesson 1, Unit 4, Grade 8. In this task, students create their own number puzzle to trade with a partner to solve. The purpose of this task is for students to practice writing and solving multi-step number puzzles and compare their representations with the representations of others to decide which are more efficient. While these problems are phrased using the words "number puzzle," it is important to note the mathematical work students are doing here thinking about, creating, and solving situations that are, essentially, linear equations in one variable, even if not all students are using equations to represent them.