A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?
Don't rush. Your first instinct is shouting an answer at you. Is that instinct right? Or is it a trap?
What is the price of the ball?
🤔 Which thinking lens(es) did you use?
Select all the lenses you used:
🌱 A Small Everyday Story
Kid sees a word problem: "If 3 cats kill 3 rats in 3 minutes, how long does it take 100 cats
to kill 100 rats?"
Kid shouts: "100 minutes!" (System 1 Pattern match: 3-3-3 -> 100-100-100).
Parent: "Slow down. Think about it. 3 cats... 3 rats... 3 minutes. That means 1 cat takes 3
minutes to kill 1 rat."
Kid: "Oh... so 100 cats... would kill 100 rats... in... 3 minutes still?"
Parent: "Yes. Using System 2 beats guessing."
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🧠 Key Insight: Children are impulsive. They rely heavily on System 1. Teaching them to "pause and check" is teaching them to activate System 2.
Read: "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman.