Date: Wed Oct 16 18:00:12 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Eric
Answer(or question to Mentor): Problem Solution:
It travels 33,793 from where the lightening strikes.
Problem Rationale:
To find my answer, I used the information given to me, so I saw that the
lightening travels the certain distance in 5 seconds. The lightening was
32 seconds away; therefore, I divided 32/5. I got 6.4. I then multiplied
6.4(5280). 5280 feet is the distance of a mile and because I multiplied,
I came up with 33,793 feet away.
Date: Fri Oct 18 13:27:59 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Eric
Mentor Reply: Hello Eric. My name is Petra and I am your mentor. You did a great job answering the Problem of the Week. I think you have a multiplying error. When I multiply 6.4 by 5280 I get 33,792. Be careful when multiplying. Calculation errors are common in math. Despite that, your thinking is great. One note: be sure to write the units in your answer. I see in your rationale that you mean feet, but be sure to write it in your answer as well. I clearly see how you solved the problem, but can you tell me why you divided and multiplied when you did? After you think about why you multiplied and divided, I think you should try the Challenge Problem. Great job Eric. I can’t wait to hear back from you.
Petra
Date: Sat Oct 19 19:13:46 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Eric
Instructor Comments: Petra,
I think Eric might be confused when reading over your response: you say that he did a great job, but then say that he has a multiplication error. Maybe you could rephrase slightly to say that he did a great EXPLAINING his reasoning. However, he had a slight calculation error.
Also, your message about being careful and the fact that errors are common is nice, but I am wondering if you might want to tie those ideas together and mention that being careful often involves findings quick ways to check to see if an answer is correct. For example, to check to see if his answer was reasonable, he might notice that since 5,280 is even, any multiple of it will also be even.
Finally, a small point: you say, "After you think about why you multiplied and divided,..." If you say "think," then he may not actually write down his thinking (or even do it.) I would change that to say: After you have revised your answer to explain why you multiplied and divided, I think..."
Dr. Bowers
Date: Mon Oct 21 17:13:26 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Eric
Mentor Reply: Hello Eric.
My name is Petra and I am your mentor. You did a great job explaining your reasoning of the Problem of the Week, but I think you have a multiplying error. When I multiply 6.4 by 5280 I get 33,792. Be careful when multiplying. Calculation errors are common in math. It is important to check your answers. There are quick ways to do this. For example, since 5280 is even, all multiples of it must be even as well. 33,793 is not even, so it can not be a multiple of 5280. Despite that, your thinking is great. One note: be sure to write the units in your answer. I see in your rationale that you mean feet, but be sure to write it in your answer as well. I clearly see how you solved the problem, but can you tell me why you divided and multiplied when you did? After you have revised your answer to explain why you multiplied and divided, I think you should try the Challenge Problem. Great job Eric. I can’t wait to hear back from you.
Petra
Date: Tue Oct 22 18:14:49 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Eric
Answer(or question to Mentor): Hey Petra! Sorry about that. I was in sort of a rush typing that,because the internet was going SO SLOW! Anyway, should I write the problem back to you, writing it differently, or just do the challenge. I will try to get that to you tomorrow.
-Eric
Date: Wed Oct 23 14:58:06 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Eric
Answer(or question to Mentor): Challenge Solution:
a.) 6,000 stricks per minute
b.) 360,000 stricks per hour
c.) 8,640,000 stricks per day
d.) 60,480,000 stricks per week
e.) 259,200,000 per month if there were 30 days for that month
f.) 3,153,600,000 per year
Challenge rationale:
Well, If lightening stricks every second 100 times every number is going to be a multiple of 100, so therefore there will be 2 zeros after ever number.
a.) First and foremost I had to ask myself how many seconds there are in a minute. there are sixty. So I just simply, multiply the amount of seconds in a minute by 100. 60(100)= 6000
b.)Next, beacause I already know the amount lightening strikes in a minute, all I have to do now is find the amount of minutes in an hour and multiply it by 6000.
60(6000)= 360,000 strikes per hour.
c.) This solution I will use for all of the problems ahead. Beacuse there are 24 hours in a day I multiply the amount of lightening that strikes in an hour, which is 360,000 times, by 24. 24(360,000)= 8,640,000 strikes per day.
d.) To find the number of lightening strikes on earth per week, I multiply the amount that it happens in a day by 7, because that is the amount of days in a week. 8,640,000(7).
e.) If there were 30 days in a month would you do this:
To find the amount of lightening stricks in a month I multiply the amount it happens in a day by 30. 8,640,000(30)= 259,200,000
f.) To find the number it striks in a year I multiply the number it happens in a day by the amount that happens in a year, 365 days are in a year, SO 8,640,000(365)= 3,153,600,000 Stricks per year!
Oh YEa!
Nice talkin to ya Petra! Bye!
P.S. I hope this is clear enough for you to understand.
-ERIC
Date: Sun Oct 27 22:44:42 PST 2002
Student's Name: Eric
Mentor Reply: Hello Eric.
Fabulous job on the challenge problem! I can clearly understand your rationale. I really liked that you said why you multiplied and divided. It really helps the person who you are explaining to understand what your individual steps are. That is all I wanted you to expand on for the problem of the week. We are probably going to be posting outstanding explanations for the next problem. An outstanding explanation not only explains how a problem is solved, but it also explains why the problem is solved the way it is. For example, when you wrote “because there are 24 hours in a day I multiply the amount of lightening that strikes in an hour, which is 360,000 times, by 24. 24(360,000)= 8,640,000 strikes per day,” it was really clear why you multiplied 24 and 360,000. When you write the next rationale, pretend that you are trying to explain the problems to a friend in class who doesn’t understand. What would you say to your friend to help him or her understand? I really think that you did a great job answering and explaining the challenge problem. Keep up the good work. I can’t wait to work with you on the next problem.
Petra
