June 29, 2005

Today began by completing the activity "In Straws We Trussed." The students were given 30 minutes to complete their straw structures before Garrett computed their scores. One structure held all 180 marbles! The results were then discussed, including reasons for the success and failure of each individual structure.

After break, the kids were given pieces of paper all of the same size and asked to make boxes out of them. They cut away four squares from the edges and then folded up the rest to create the boxes. Each student had to make a box with different dimensions. Once the boxes were made, they were filled with sand and then weighed. After all that, Garrett had them make a table of the dimensions of the box and how much sand the box held. The goal was to figure out the relationship between the size of the squares cut out and the volume and amount of sand held. To this end, the data table was entered into the Data Flyer applet where the results were plotted. The students could then see the pattern, which related the cut size to the volume and amount of sand held. Garrett also developed an equation algebraically, which predicted the volume of the box. This was compared to the actual results of how much sand the box held.