Date: Wed Oct 30 19:45:04 PST 2002
Student's Name: Sally
Answer(or question to Mentor): Problem Answer: The storm surged 11.25 feet in 2002 which left 3.75 feet above the water.
Problem Rationale: The whole length of the stilts were 15 feet, so I found 3/4 of 15 by multiplying 75 and 15, and then dividing the quotient by 100.
75/100 = x/15
15 x 75= 1125
1125/10= 11.25
-S-A-Double-L-Y
Date: Thu Oct 31 14:43:40 PST 2002
Student's Name: Sally
Mentor Reply: Sally - I think you are doing a little too much work for this problem. Remember that drawing visuals are helpful. We have a pole that is sticking in the ground 2.5 feet. Then 2/3 of the pole ABOVE the ground is not being touched by the water and that equals 5 feet. Find out how much the remaining 1/3 of the pole equals and then apply that to the next part. You are doing a very good job! Don't get discouraged, keep on seeking. Talk to you later.
ddoT
Date: Sat Nov 2 23:26:52 PST 2002
Student's Name: Sally
Instructor Comments:
Todd,
First, I want to share some good news: the teacher sent me a note saying that Sally liked the fact that you wrote "word up" last time, and that established a good connection. SO, Great job! However, she also said that using the D=RT was a fine solution, so it is improtant to check the mathematics of a problem even though it may not have been the way that you solved it.
In this case, I am not sure why you are saying that she did a little too much work. Actually, she didn't do enough work, but it is hard to gauge how much is too much or too little because she did not even get a correct answer. I think you may be insinuating that she made too much of the problem when it is actually easy to solve, which I don't think is true.
Also, don't assume that she didn't draw a diagram. She may very well have done so, but just not said that in her response.
Please note that she did not say that the pole was sticking in the ground 2.5 feet, and the problem does not state that either. In fact, that has to be figured out. The problem only states that 1/4 of the pole is sticking in the ground. So, you need to revise that statement because you are giving away information that she needs to find herself.
As I said above, the goal of writing these responses is NOT to say how YOU would do the problem, but to start with HER response and her thinking. She begins by assuming that the whole pole is 15 feet. I would begin your response there by telling her that this is incorrect, and giving her a good hint to help her figure out the length of the pole. For example, you could say "We are given the fact that the storm surge covered 1/3 of the pole leaving 5 feet dry. So, therefore we can imagine that 2/3 of the pole was not covered with water and that this represents 2/3 of the pole. Now we can we use that information to figure out the number of feet that the storm surge did cover, and the total number of feet that stick out of the water? Note that once you figure out that part, you can then follow the steps you describe of taking 3/4 of that amount to find the storm surge in 2002."
Todd, does this make sense as an example of a more explicit answer that includes her thinking?
Dr. Bowers
Date: Wed Nov 6 06:31:42 PST 2002
Student's Name: Sally
Mentor Reply: S-a-double l-y: How is it going on your side of the United States? It's pretty nice out here on the west coast. I just wanted to write and let you know that we need to do a little work with your answer. First of all, we need to figure out how much of the pole is in the ground (drawing a diagram can be useful). From there we need to figure out how much of the pole is left above the ground. Good luck in trying to solve this problem again. Write me if there are any problems.
Peace out!
Todd
Date: Sun Nov 10 11:59:52 PST 2002
Student's Name: Sally
Answer(or question to Mentor): Hey Todd Sorry i havent written to you I was away. I have not a clue of how to do that problem. I am really frustrated that I don't get it will you help me?
-Confused
Date: Tue Nov 12 15:46:39 PST 2002
Student's Name: Sally
Answer(or question to Mentor): Problem Answer: 1) She allready consumed 11% of her daily calories. 2) 14/65 of the cheese burger is fat.
Problem Rationale: For the first question I multiplied the number of calories per grams of fat, protein, and carbohydrates in the cheese burger and added them together. Then I put my answer over the number of calories daily, reduced it and got 11 percent. In the second problem I put the number of grams of fat in the burger over the sum of all the grams of everything in the burger and got 14/65 which cannot be reduced as a fraction.
Date: Mon Nov 18 17:54:58 PST 2002
Student's Name: Sally
Answer(or question to Mentor): Problem Answer: Lani had 36 nuggets to begin with.
Problem Rationale: If there are 3 remaining nuggets and Miles ate 1/2 of the portion, then Juan left him 6 to eat. If 6 are left from Juans chow down then 6 is 1/4 of 24, because he ate 3/4 of what Ralph left him. If 24 is what Ralph left in the bucket after he ate 1/3 of the total, then 24 is 2/3 of 36. There were 36 nuggets to begin with.
Date: Tue Nov 19 10:43:58 PST 2002
Student's Name: Sally
Mentor Reply: Sally: You did a wonderful job with the chicken mcnugget problem. I love the way you told me how many nuggets were left after each step. I could follow the steps with ease. Keep up the good work. I'm out!
Todd
Date: Tue Nov 19 14:37:03 PST 2002
Student's Name: Sally
Mentor Reply: Sally: Try not to get frustrated with math because then you have let it get the best of you. Sometimes we need to walk away from a problem for awhile to let our brains recover. For the cheeseburger problem I would like to know how many calories you ended up with in the first question, as well as, what you divided it by. For the second question you answered correctly, but there is also another way to answer the question. The other way would be to convert all of the numbers into calories and then have the number of fat calories divided by the total number of calories. Good job home skillet! Submit your revision of the first question as soon as you can.
Peace out!
Todd
Date: Wed Nov 20 23:14:06 PST 2002
Student's Name: Sally
Instructor Comments: Todd,
I can see that you did not take my advice on the last problem, so I won't take a long time to describe what I would do here. However, I must say that I am confused as to why you are assuming that she is frustrated. I don’t see that anywhere in her responses and I URGE you to take it out. --Dr. Bowers
