Date: Mon Oct 14 06:15:23 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Richard
Answer(or question to Mentor): The answer is 6.4 miles away because the problem said it takes 5 seconds for thunder to travel one mile and it also said it takes 32 seconds between the flash of lightning and the thunder boom. So I divided 32 by 5 because to find how far away the lightning is.
Date: Tue Oct 15 09:06:12 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Richard
Answer(or question to Mentor): The answer to the first challenge problem is 6758.4ft because it said use the info above so I did. I multiplied 5280ft y 6.4 because there are 5280ft in one mile and 6.4 miles is how far the thunder traveled in 5 seconds. I got 33792. I divided 33792 by five because it said in one second and 6.4 was in five seconds.
Date: Tue Oct 15 09:37:57 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Richard
Answer(or question to Mentor): A. The answer to the second challenge problem is 6,000 times per minute because you multiply 100 by 60 because there are 60 seconds in one minute and lightning flashes 100 times per second.
B. The answer to part b of the second challenge problem is 360,000 because you multiply 100 by 60, and by 60. 100 is how many times per second, the first 60 is for how many seconds in one minute, and the second 60 is for how many minutes for one hour
C. The answer to part c of the second challenge problem is 8,640,000 because you multiply 100 by 60, by 60, and by 24. 100 is how many times per second, the first 60 is for how many seconds in one minute, the second 60 is for how many minutes for one hour, and the 24 is for how many hours there are per day.
D. The answer to part d of the second challenge problem is 60,480,000 because you multiply 100 by 60, by 60, by 24, and by 7. 100 is how many times per second, the first 60 is for how many seconds in one minute, the second 60 is for how many minutes for one hour, the 24 is for how many hours there are per day, and 7 is for how many days per week.
E. The answer to part e of the second challenge problem is 302,400,000 because you multiply 100 by 60, by 60, by 24, by 7, and by 5. 100 is how many times per second, the first 60 is for how many seconds in one minute, the second 60 is for how many minutes for one hour, the 24 is for how many hours there are per day, 7 is for how many days per week, and 5 in for how many weeks per month.
F. The answer to part f of the second challenge problem is 3,628,800,000 because you multiply 100 by 60, by 60, by 24, by 7, by 5, and by 12. 100 is how many times per second, the first 60 is for how many seconds in one minute, the second 60 is for how many minutes for one hour, the 24 is for how many hours there are per day, 7 is for how many days per week, 5 in for how many weeks per month, and 12 is for how many months per year.
Date: Thu Oct 17 23:20:11 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Richard
Mentor Reply: Dear Richard,
My name is Cam and I'm really impressed with all your work! Your answer is right! It is indeed that the lightning is 6.4 miles away. However, can you explain to me so that I can understand why did you divide 32 by 5 to get your answer instead of multiplying or adding?
Again, I'm so glad that you have tried both of the challenge problems. For your answer to the first challenge problem, I would like you to read the question over and understand what the question asks for and I just want to remind you that the thunder travels 1 mile in 5 second.
For your second challenge problem, by looking as your response, I can see that you've been working really hard Richard. From part a through d, you've done a great job. For part e and f, I want you to check again to see how many weeks in a month and do your calculations over (perhaps, it is better to find how many days in one month). I really look forward to read your revision.
Bye, Richard
Cam
Date: Fri Oct 18 06:08:43 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Richard
Answer(or question to Mentor): Your submission doesn't show so up on my computer so please send it again
Date: Sun Oct 20 04:42:38 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Richard
Instructor Comments: Cam
The reason that the student said that your answer didn't show up on his screen is that the teacher apparently showed the students the mentor responses using the admin password. I guess she didn't understand that I was going to read them first and hence thougtht that there was a problem with the system because the students could see a "1" in the info box for mentor responses, but couldn't see the response.
The content of your response is fine, butI think you need to be more direct. So, first you need to say that his answer to the original question is correct, however his explanation needs to be revised. Then you can go on to elaborate on how he needs to explain why he divided.
For the challenge problems, again, be more direct. Your answer to the first challenge problem is incorrect. Instead of just asking him to read the problem again, I would concentrate specifically on his answer. He stated taht the answer is 6758 feet, and then ask him how this relates to converting the rate of 1 mile per five seconds into feet per second. Also, if you want to keep your comment about thunder traveling, you need to say 1 mile in 5 secondS.
When discussing the challenge problem, I think it is valid to assume there could be 5 weeks in a month, and his answer is so well written that we can see what he did. Besides, there are either 30 or 31 days in a month, so there are several possible answers. I would allow this to go through with just a revision of his explanation.
Dr. Bowers
Date: Mon Oct 21 22:47:48 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Richard
Mentor Reply: Hi Richard!
Congratulations! Your answer to the original problem is correct; however, I don't understand why you divided 32 by 5? Can you explain to me why did you use division?
Your answer to the first challenge problem is incorrect. You stated that 6.4 miles is how far the thunder traveled in 5 seconds, but the problem said that thunder travels 1 mile in 5 seconds. Therefore, the thunder only travels 1 mile in 5 seconds. Knowing that 1 mile equals 5280 feet, can you use this fact and convert the rate of 1 mile per five seconds into feet per second?
All your answers to the second challenge problem are correct; however, your way of solving it is too lengthy and complicated. There is a quicker and easier way to solve this problem. You can use the answer from the previous part to obtain the answer for the next. For example, if you have the answer for part a, which is how many times per minute, then you can use this answer to find how many times per hour by multiply the answer of part a to how many minutes in an hour. You can try this and see if it is easier. I look forward to read your revision for the first challenge problem.
Bye, Richard
Cam
Date: Tue Oct 22 16:27:24 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Richard
Instructor Comments: Cam
To save time, I am going to send the student a corrected version of what you wrote. I am appending it here too:
Congratulations! Your answer to the original problem is correct; however, part of this assignment is to explain why you chose to answer the question as you did. So, can you explain why you chose to use division?
Your answer to the first challenge problem is incorrect. You stated that 6.4 miles is how far the thunder traveled in 5 seconds, but the problem said that thunder travels 1 mile in 5 seconds. Therefore, the thunder only travels 1 mile in 5 seconds. Knowing that 1 mile equals 5280 feet, can you use this fact and convert the rate of 1 mile per five seconds into feet per second?
All your answers to the second challenge problem are correct, and your explantions clearly describe how you chose to multiply the numbers in the problem.
I look forward to read your revision for the first challenge problem.
Cam
Date: Tue Oct 22 16:28:59 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Richard
Mentor Reply: Congratulations! Your answer to the original problem is correct; however, part of this assignment is to explain why you chose to answer the question as you did. So, can you explain why you chose to use division?
Your answer to the first challenge problem is incorrect. You stated that 6.4 miles is how far the thunder traveled in 5 seconds, but the problem said that thunder travels 1 mile in 5 seconds. Therefore, the thunder only travels 1 mile in 5 seconds. Knowing that 1 mile equals 5280 feet, can you use this fact and convert the rate of 1 mile per five seconds into feet per second?
All your answers to the second challenge problem are correct, and your explantions clearly describe how you chose to multiply the numbers in the problem.
I look forward to read your revision for the first challenge problem.
Cam
