Date: Mon Oct 14 08:34:39 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Scott
Answer(or question to Mentor):
It is 6.4 miles away. I divided the 32 seconds by 5. I did this because it was 32 seconds between the lighting and the thunder. That’s how I got 6.4 miles.
Hi. How are you doing Kelly?
Date: Thu Oct 17 18:08:45 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Scott
Mentor Reply: **post
Hello Scott,
I am doing well, thank you. How about you? You did a great job on the problem. Your answer was clear and concise. Can you think of another way of expressing 6.4? Please try the challange problems and let me know what you get. I'll be looking forward to seeing how you attempt them:). -Kelly
Date: Sat Oct 19 16:16:47 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Scott
Instructor Comments:
Kelly,
I am sorry to say but I don't really think that Scott's answer was all that great. He didn't explain why he chose to divide. Some of the really great answers that I have seen involve having students explain that each set of 5 seconds represented 1 mile (actually students say 'equals 1 mile'), so they chose division because they wanted to see how many sets of 5 (seconds, although they aren't that good) there were in 32 seconds. I would try to push Scott a bit further. Perhaps you could say something like, "Suppose that you wanted to explain your thinking to a friend in your class who was confused. Can you find a way to explain why division makes sense?"
Good job encouraging him to try the challenge problem.
Dr. Bowers
Date: Sat Oct 19 21:02:59 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Scott
Mentor Reply: Hello Scott,
I am doing well, thank you. How about you? Your answer is correct, but I would like you to explain it a little more. Pretend that you are helping a classmate that is confused and doesn't understand why you divided. Can you think of a way to explain why division works for this problem?
Please try the challenge problems also and let me know what you get. I'll be looking forward to seeing how you attempt them:). -Kelly
Date: Sun Oct 27 12:38:20 PST 2002
Student's Name: Scott
Mentor Reply:
Hi Scott,
For the next problem I would like you to work on explaining your answer with more details. For example, you could explain this answer by saying that you needed to find out how many sets of 5 seconds are in 32 seconds (32 divided by 5). This gives you 6 with a remainder of 2. The remainder 2 can be expressed as a fraction of 2/5 or as a decimal (.4). So the answer is 6 and 2/5 or 6.4 miles.
Giving more details in your answers will help when you are explaining a problem to a classmate, your teacher or your parents.
The next problem will be posted soon. I am looking forward to helping you again:)
Kelly
Date: Sun Oct 27 12:38:34 PST 2002
Student's Name: Scott
Mentor Reply:
Hi Scott,
For the next problem I would like you to work on explaining your answer with more details. For example, you could explain this answer by saying that you needed to find out how many sets of 5 seconds are in 32 seconds (32 divided by 5). This gives you 6 with a remainder of 2. The remainder 2 can be expressed as a fraction of 2/5 or as a decimal (.4). So the answer is 6 and 2/5 or 6.4 miles.
Giving more details in your answers will help when you are explaining a problem to a classmate, your teacher or your parents.
The next problem will be posted soon. I am looking forward to helping you again:)
Kelly
