From Eric O'Brien, a sixth grade teacher at Shore Road Intermediate Center in Bellmore, New York:

Using hexagonal shapes, I form the first 15 lines of Pascal's triangle on my bulletin board. I fill in the first 5 lines and allow students to think about the formation. When students begin to ask about the triangle, I ask them to make conjectures about the next few lines. This exploration quickly becomes a source of enthusiasm that lasts throughout the year. I ask students a variety of questions, and students begin to find connections among the questions, number theory and the bulletin board they helped to create.

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