Alike and Different: Which One

Doesn’t Belong? and More

by Chris Hunter

In the last few years, Which One Doesn’t Belong? (WODB?) has chosen the top left because it’s the only one with equally likely
become popular among many mathematics teachers, from outcomes. You may have picked the bottom left because it’s the
kindergarten to calculus. This rise in popularity is due, in large only one in which the probability of a single outcome (landing on
part, to Christopher Danielson’s shapes book (Danielson, 2016) orange) is greater than 1/2. You may have decided on the bottom
and the single-serving website that it inspired (curated by Mary right because it’s the only one in which the probability of landing
Bourassa). WODB? is a 5-to-10 minute instructional routine in on blue is not equal to 1/4. You may have come up with additional
which students are shown a set of four numbers, expressions, reasons. Notice that any one of the spinners could be the one
graphs, or shapes and asked the same two questions every time: that doesn’t belong. All answers are correct; what matters are the
“Which one doesn’t belong? Why?” justifications.

A few years ago, I created several WODB? sets1 of my own. I invite This isn’t accidental; it takes purposeful planning to make sure that
you to think about the set in Figure 1. Which one do you think an important mathematical property sets each element apart. I can
doesn’t belong? Why? use a table to help me organize my thoughts. I can begin by listing
four characteristics. For example:
3 possible Equally likely P(outcome A) > ½ P(outcome B) ≠ ¼
outcomes outcomes

Next, I can assign each property to one and only one of the
elements.
3 possible Equally likely P(outcome P(outcome
outcomes outcomes A) > ½ B) ≠ ¼

Top Right ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗
Top Left ✗ ✓ ✗ ✗
Bottom Left ✗ ✗ ✓ ✗
Bottom Right ✗ ✗ ✗ ✓

Finally, I imagine elements with these properties, as well as the

classroom discussion itself.

Figure 1: Which one doesn’t belong? However, not all two-by-two arrays make good WODB? sets.
Often, I painted myself into a corner when I strayed from thinking
You may have selected the spinner on the top right because it’s the about four distinguishing features ahead of time. Adding the fourth
only one with three, not four, possible outcomes. You may have element can change the reason why one—or more!—of the other

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three doesn’t belong. For example, the set in Figure 2 didn’t make Another image that elicits discussion of equivalent fractions and
the cut: place value (Figure 4), looking at 0.25 or one-quarter; 0.25 or two-
tenths and five-hundreths.

Figure 4 What’s the same? What’s different?

I created a few more of these alike and different questions, including

several variations on five subtract two (Figures 5 and 6):

Figure 2 Which one doesn’t belong? Hundreds/hundredths

The top right and bottom right are close to 100 (or 1); the top left
and bottom right are greater than 100 (or 1); top left and top right Figure 5 Five-quarters subtract two-quarters or five root-two’s subtract
have seven parts, or rods, of tens (or tenths); all involve seven parts two root-two’s.
in some way. There is an assumed answer to the question “Which
one is 1?” in these noticings: a flat is 100 if we’re talking whole
numbers and 1 if we’re talking decimals. But what if 1 is a flat in the
top left and a rod in the bottom left? Now both represent 1.7. This
flexibility was front and centre in my mind when I created this set.

Thus, even if this falls apart as a WODB? set, rather than scrap the
hundreds/hundredths grids, I can modify my questions (Figure 3): Figure 6 Five 1001’s subtract two 1001’s or five (x + 1)’s subtract two
(x + 1)’s.

Like Mary Bourassa, Brian Bushart created Same or Different?2 a

website with plenty of crowd-sourced images meant to generate
mathematical discussions. Both are excellent places to start;
designing your own can be challenging at first.

Another question that I like is “Which two are most alike?” (Small,
Figure 3 What’s the same? What’s different? 2010). I like it because the focus is on sameness, and like WODB?,
students must make and defend a decision. Also, this “solves”
my painted-into-a-corner problem; there are fewer relationships
between elements to consider.
https://samedifferentimages.wordpress.com/
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Figure 7 Which two are most alike?

The numbers in the left and right images (see Figure 7) are less Similar connections can be made in Figure 9:
than 100 (if a dot is 1); the numbers in the centre and right can be
expressed with 3 in the tens place; the left and centre image can
both represent 43, depending on how we define 1. As with the
hundreds grids above, this flexibility was front and centre in my
mind when I created this set.

At the 2017 Northwest Mathematics Conference in Portland, my

session3 addressed operations across the grades. A big idea ran
through the workshop:
Figure 9 Which two are the most alike?
“The operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and
division hold the same fundamental meanings no matter the This time, the first and second expression involve a quotative (or
domain in which they are applied.” (Small, 2010) measurement) interpretation of division: groups of (–3) or 3x, not
(–3) or 3x groups. The second expression is equivalent to the first
This big idea underlies the question in Figure 8: if x equals –1.

What’s the reason for the second and third expressions to be paired
together? Maybe this isn’t a good “Which two are most alike?”
That’s okay. Asking “What’s the same? What’s different?” and
including only two expressions gets me out of that jam. Again,
it’s about inviting students to notice properties and justify their
decisions, not being loyal to a particular question stem.

Figure 8 Which two are most alike? Which One Doesn’t Belong? is a powerful routine. First, all students
can contribute to classroom discussions. Some students may
At first glance, the second and third expressions are most alike: challenge themselves to find at least one reason for excluding
both involve decimals. But the quotient in both the first and second each element in a set; in fact, finding a reason for the fourth can
is 20; in fact, if we multiply both 6 and 0.3 by 10 in the second, we often prove to be elusive. However, it is not necessary for each
get the first. The first and third likely involve a partitive (or sharing) student to do so. A learner who can identify a single “imposter”
interpretation of division4: 3 groups, not groups of 3. However, can still participate in the routine; sometimes, their justification is
context often determines meaning.

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unique, adding to the collective understanding of the classroom Websites of interest:
community of mathematicians. https://samedifferentimages.wordpress.com
https://talkingmathwithkids.com
Further, WODB? is powerful because it engages students http://wodb.ca
themselves in the “doing” of mathematics or, here in BC, curricular
competencies. WODB? is most strongly connected to “use References:
mathematical language to contribute to mathematical discussions” Danielson, Christopher. (2016). Which one doesn’t belong? A
and “explain and justify mathematical ideas and decisions.” In shapes book. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
addition, by their nature, many WODB? sets encourage students
to “visualize … mathematical concepts” (https://curriculum.gov. Small, Marian. (2010). More good questions: great ways to
bc.ca/curriculum/mathematics). differentiate secondary mathematics instruction. New York, NY:
Teachers College.
Finally, WODB? provides elementary and secondary math teachers
with a common framework for facilitating mathematical–and
professional!–conversations. WODB? can be implemented in any
classroom, be it one in which seven-year-olds talk about attributes
of 2D shapes, or one in which seventeen-year-olds argue over
rational functions. By having our students experience WODB? Chris tweets at @ChrisHunter and blogs at
throughout K-12, meaningful mathematical discourse in our reflectionsinthewhy.wordpress.com.
classrooms may even become…routine.

Additional examples can be found in the original blog post:

https://reflectionsinthewhy.wordpress.com/2017/11/01/alike-
different-which-one-doesnt-belong-more/.

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