Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Algebra has the answer!


Have you ever seen such diligent students? The Amazins have been hard at work over the last two and a half weeks on listening and note taking tasks associated with the History Channel special "How the Earth Was Made". It's a fascinating movie that details the Earth long evolution from a firery ball of lava to the life giving, oxygen-rich planet we call home.

The Amazins will use the information they have learned and noted on their Extended Anticipatory Guide and many Compare and Contrast Matrices to complete the next steps of their portfolio project.

Our next step is most exciting. After writing a short essay (using our Stoplight Paragraph writing structure) about the evoltion of our planet, the Amazins will engage in a bulletin board project for the ages!

How can we represent the Earth's age down to scale? How can we demonstrate how long our planet has been around? How can we WOW our classmates by showing them what DEEP TIME really looks like?

ALGEBRA!

Yes - ALGEBRA!

The Amazins will use proportions to bring the 4.5 billion years of Earth's existence down to scale. What will that look like? How can this help us prepare for our upcoming Integrated Algebra Regents?

Well, what if 1 foot of string represented 100,000 years. How many feet of string would be needed to represent all 4.5 billion years of Earth's life?

The Amazins will solve for x, and then create a real, scaled timeline of the Earth's tumultuous life for all students and staff to marvel at.

Check back over spring break for pictures and developments!

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