Batting Practice
Jessica loved to play baseball and was determined to improve
her batting average. She decided to make a practice schedule
for her summer vacation. On the 1st day of her vacation she
will practice until she hits the baseball 3 times. On the 2nd day
she will practice until she hits the baseball 5 times. On the 3rd
day she will practice until she hits the baseball 7 times. On the
4th day she will practice until she hits the baseball 9 times.
If Jessica continues with this practice schedule, how many
times will she have to hit the baseball on the 10th day? The
40th day? Show your work and explain your reasoning.
Batting Practice
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Batting Practice
Suggested Grade Span
3–5
Grade(s) in Which Task Was Piloted
4
Task
Jessica loved to play baseball and was determined to improve her batting average. She
decided to make a practice schedule for her summer vacation. On the 1st day of her vacation
she will practice until she hits the baseball 3 times. On the 2nd day she will practice until she
hits the baseball 5 times. On the 3rd day she will practice until she hits the baseball 7 times. On
the 4th day she will practice until she hits the baseball 9 times.
If Jessica continues with this practice schedule, how many times will she have to hit the
baseball on the 10th day? The 40th day? Show your work and explain your reasoning.
Alternative Versions of Task
More Accessible Version:
Jessica loved to play baseball and was determined to improve her batting average. She
decided to make a practice schedule for her summer vacation. On the 1st day of her vacation
she will practice until she hits the baseball 3 times. On the 2nd day she will practice until she
hits the baseball 5 times. On the 3rd day she will practice until she hits the baseball 7 times. On
the 4th day she will practice until she hits the baseball 9 times.
If Jessica continues with this practice schedule, how many times will she have to hit the
baseball on the 10th day? The 14th day? Show your work and explain your reasoning.
More Challenging Version:
Jessica loved to play baseball and was determined to improve her batting average. She
decided to make a practice schedule for her summer vacation. On the 1st day of her vacation
she will practice until she hits the baseball 3 times. On the 2nd day she will practice until she
hits the baseball 5 times. On the 3rd day she will practice until she hits the baseball 7 times. On
the 4th day she will practice until she hits the baseball 9 times.
Batting Practice
Copyright 2008, Exemplars, Inc. All rights reserved.
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If Jessica continues with this practice schedule, how many times will she have to hit the
baseball on the 10th day? The 40th day? The 50th day? Make a rule for finding the number of
hits she will make on any number day. Show your work and explain your reasoning.
NCTM Content Standards and Evidence
Algebra Standard for Grades 3-5: Instructional programs from pre-kindergarten through grade
12 should enable students to ...
Understand patterns, relations and functions.
• NCTM Evidence: Describe, extend and make generalizations about geometric and
numeric patterns.
• Exemplars Task-Specific Evidence: This task requires students to identify and extend
the pattern of number of balls hit.
Time/Context/Qualifiers/Tip(s) From Piloting Teacher
This is a short- to medium-length task.
Links
This task would be appropriately given during baseball season. It could also link to a discussion
about how “practice makes perfect." A Web site you might want to visit to get interesting facts
and statistics about baseball is http://www.baseball-reference.com/.
Common Strategies Used to Solve This Task
Most students will make a chart to record information presented in the task. They will then
identify and extend the pattern to days 10 and 40.
Possible Solutions
Day
Number of Times Ball Is Hit
1
3
2
5
3
7
10
21
40
81
Batting Practice
Copyright 2008, Exemplars, Inc. All rights reserved.
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More Accessible Version Solution:
Day
Number of Times Ball Is Hit
1
3
2
5
3
7
10
21
14
29
More Challenging Version Solution:
Day
Number of Times Ball Is Hit
1
3
2
5
3
7
10
21
40
81
50
101
n
2n + 1
Task-Specific Assessment Notes
General Notes
Most students will create math representations that will assist in problem solving and
communicating the solution.
Novice
The Novice will demonstrate little or no understanding of the task. There will be no correct
reasoning or awareness of audience. No attempt will be made to go beyond showing data
presented in the task.
Apprentice
The Apprentice will have a partially correct solution with a strategy that will work for solving part
of the task. The Apprentice may be able to discover the pattern but will not be able to correctly
extend it to 10 or 40 because of reasoning or computation errors. Some communication with the
audience will be evident through representations and use of some formal math language.
Practitioner
The Practitioner will achieve a correct solution to the task and show supporting work. The
Practitioner may identify the pattern but will not use it to find a rule for any number of days.
Batting Practice
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Expert
The Expert will not only achieve a correct solution but will also utilize other good problemsolving strategies, such as creating a rule to solve the task (2n + 1, with n equal to the day
number), verifying the solution, or going above and beyond the task requirements to extend the
solution.
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Novice
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Apprentice
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Practitioner
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Expert
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