A Monster that needs to be Controlled

Photo by Ronald Daanen
http://frontierscientists.com/2012/02/flowing-tongues-rock-ice-and-dirt/

Title : A Monster that needs to be Controlled

Problem:  The Monster Lobe is a "debris flow" that is creeping down the Southern Brooks Range towards the Dalton Highway (http://frontierscientists.com/2012/02/flowing-tongues-rock-ice-and-dirt/).    The debris must not get to the highway or the pipeline which is running near the highway.

Importance:  The Dalton Highway is the only road to the North Slope.  Near the Dalton Highway is the Alaska Pipeline.  Problems will be created, if the Monster Lobe reaches either of these structures.

Students involved (number, grade level, etc.)  I believe that this lesson would be appropriate for middle school students (6 - 7 grades).  My personal "guinea pig" is a college student who is new to Minecraft.  

The math (math standards):  

     6.RP.2. Understand the concept of a unit rate (a/b associated with a ratio a:b with b ≠ 0, and use rate language in the context of a ratio relationship) and apply it to solve real-world problems (e.g., unit pricing, constant speed).

     6.RP.3. Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems (e.g., by reasoning about tables of equivalent ratios, tape diagrams, double number line diagrams, or equations).  Use ratio reasoning to convert measurement units between given measurement systems (e.g., convert kilometers to miles); manipulate and transform units appropriately when multiplying or dividing quantities.

     6.EE.2. Write, read, and evaluate expressions in which letters stand for numbers. a. Write expressions that record operations with numbers and with letters standing for numbers. c. Evaluate expressions and formulas. Include formulas used in real-world problems.

     6.EE.6. Use variables to represent numbers and write expressions when solving a real world or mathematical problem; understand that a variable can represent an unknown number, or, depending on the purpose at hand, any number in a specified set.

     6.EE.9. Use variables to represent two quantities in a real-world problem that change in relationship to one another; write an equation to express one quantity, thought of as the dependent variable, in terms of the other quantity, thought of as the independent variable. Analyze the relationship between the dependent and independent variables using graphs and tables, and relate these to the equation.

     7.RP.1. Compute unit rates associated with ratios of fractions, including ratios of lengths, areas and other quantities measured in like or different units.

     7.NS.3. Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving the four operations with rational numbers. (Computations with rational numbers extend the rules for manipulating fractions to complex fractions.)

     7.EE.3. Solve multi-step real-life and mathematical problems posed with positive and negative rational numbers in any form and assess the reasonableness of answers using mental computation and estimation strategies.

     7.G.1. Solve problems involving scale drawings of geometric figures, including computing actual lengths and areas from a scale drawing and reproducing a scale drawing at a different scale.

     7.G.6. Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving area, volume and surface area of two- and three-dimensional objects composed of triangles, quadrilaterals, polygons, cubes, and right prisms.

The science (skills or concepts):  Movement of the Lobe; mass of Lobe.   How the Lobe developed.

The engineering:  Solving the problem by applying mathematical and scientific principles.  

The technology:  Minecraft.

How it will be shared/communicated with the rest of us:  Power Point.  

     IDEA #1:  Have the students work on ideas for diverting the Monster Lobe from the Dalton Highway.  More exactly, the students should be working to figure out how to keep the debris from "dumping" on the highway.

     IDEA #2:  Have students develop ideas for destroying the Monster Lobe.  This would include deciding what the consequences of this action would have on the environment, the Dalton Highway and the Pipeline.

  

     Both ideas would include the students putting forth ideas as to how the Monster Lobe developed.  The ideas would use Minecraft.  An extension of both ideas would be the effect of the Monster Lobe on a town (if the Lobe was located elsewhere).