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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).
