Date: Mon Oct 14 07:08:58 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Austin
Answer(or question to Mentor): I cannot figure out the answer to this problem. I will take a guess those my guess would be six miles. I got my answer because that’s how many times five will go into thirty.
Date: Mon Oct 14 07:20:08 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Austin
Answer(or question to Mentor): A. Lighting will travel 12 miles in one minute. I got my answer by taking five witch is the amount of seconds it takes for lighting to travel one mile. Then I divided five in to sixty wich is the number of seconds in a minute, and that is how I got my answer.
B. Lighting travels 720 miles per hour. I got my answer by multiplying 12 witch is the number of miles lighting travels in a minute. Then I multiplied it times sixty witch is how many minutes are in a hour. That is how I got 720 miles.
Date: Thu Oct 17 18:52:03 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Austin
Mentor Reply: Austin—
You are on the right track! Can you explain to me why you chose to use the number 30 instead of 32 which was given and why you then decided to divide 30 by 5? Will you please try this problem again using the same method as you did the first time except this time using the number 32. Hint: Think about using a remainder. I look forward to reading your next response.
Celeste
2nd submission:
Austin—
This is excellent thinking. What do you think you would do next to solve the other parts of the problem? (How many hours are in a day, days are in a week etc?) Keep going!
Celeste
Date: Fri Oct 18 15:18:53 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Austin
Instructor Comments: Celeste,
I think your response is correct, although it might be a bit difficult to read. Your greeting and first sentence are good, although I don't think the explantion is very clear at all. Therefore, I would be a bit more direct and say something like, "Your strategy of dividing was correct, so can you go back and use the exact number that was mentioned in the problem? Also, can you explain why you chose to divide instead of, for example, multiplying?"
I am confused about your second response. Are his answers to parts A&B correct? Simply saying that he has "excellent thinking" does not indicate if he was correct or not. In fact, you could even be as direct as saying "Keep going to answer parts C through F" (if in fact parts A and B are correct, otherwise make it A through F). One needs to be as direct as possible with middle school students, otherwise one can never guess how they will interpret our responses!
Dr. Bowers
Date: Sun Oct 20 18:43:54 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Austin
Mentor Reply: Austin—
You are on the right track! Your strategy of dividing was correct, so can you go back and use the exact number that was mentioned in the problem (32)? Also, can you explain why you chose to divide instead of, for example, multiplying? Hint: Think about using a remainder in your division. I look forward to reading your next response.
Celeste
2nd submission:
Austin—
This is excellent thinking. Your answers to part A and B are correct. What do you think you would do next to solve the other parts of the problem? (How many hours are in a day, days are in a week etc?) Keep going!
Celeste
Date: Tue Oct 22 04:34:17 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Austin
Answer(or question to Mentor): I divided instead of multiplying number one because it was easier. The other reason why is five can not be multiplyed to equal 32. The remainder is what I did not understand about the problem when I divided. I did not know to do with it.
Austin
Date: Wed Oct 23 19:05:51 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Austin
Mentor Reply: Austin-
Thanks for responding. In understanding how to solve the thunder and lightening problem why don't you try this: Draw out 32 triangles on a piece of paper. These will represent the seconds between the lightening and the thunder. Then group your triangles into groups of 5. Each group of 5 seconds will represent the thunder traveling 1 mile. Now you should have 6 groups of 5 triangles with two triangles left over. These two remaining triangles each represent 1/5th of the time that it takes the thunder to travel 1 mile. So now can you tell me how far the thunder has traveled in 32 seconds? I hope this has helped.
Celeste
Date: Wed Oct 23 19:30:57 PDT 2002
Student's Name: Austin
Answer(or question to Mentor): C. Lighting will travel 17,280 miles in a day. I got my awnser by multiplying 720 miles wich is the amount fo miles lighting will go in one minute. Then I multipled it times 24 wich is the amount of hours in a day. That is how I got my awnser.
D. Lighting will travel 120,960 miles in a week. I got my awnser by multiplying 17,280 wich is how many mile lighting will go in a day, and times it time 7 wich is how many days are in a week. Then I did my multiplucation, and that is how I got my awnser.
E. Lighting will travel 3,749,760 miles in one month. I got my awnser by multiplying 120,960 wich is the amount of miles lightning will travel in a day. Then I multiplyed it times 31 wich is the most amount of days in a month. That is how I got my awnser.
F. Lighting will travel 268,650,400 miles in a year. I got my answer by multiplying 3,749,760 wich is how many miles lightning will travel in a month, and 365 wich is how many days are in a year. That is how I got my answer.
Austin-
