From: Jerry Bailey <baileyj@belnet.bellevue.k12.wa.us>
Subject: Re: Challenge Question #2 rebuttal
Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 07:00:10 -0800 (PST)
Here here! Jerry Bailey Tillicum Middle School Bellevue, Washington On Sun, 10 Nov 1996, Verl L. Smith wrote: > Hi Chris & all, > > I presented the answer to Challenge #2 to my physics class because the > concept of not being able to see the other side of the canyon bothered me: > > "...if you stood on one rim of the Valles Marineris, you wouldn't be able to > see the other rim because it would be out of sight over the horizon !" > > I asked my class: > "How can the other rim of a chasm be "over the horizon" -- what is rising out > of that chasm to block the view? Or - how shallow is this canyon that its > floor becomes the horizon? Maybe I need a picture (or profile to scale) to > help visualize this." > > Philip grabbed the challenge and came up with a very good response. Basically > for the far wall of the canyon to be over the horizon (the horizon being the > floor of the canyon itself) the canyon must be 200km or more in width and be > 1.5km or less in depth. According to the data we dug up on Marineris, the > maximum width is about 200km, but the depth is up to 7 or 8km. > > Philip first did use calculus to solve the problem, but the solution he > presented here relies only on geometry & a little trig. I would hope that > the readers of this list would be able to follow his presentation with > careful reading and maybe digging some long unused math concepts out of some > corner of our brains. > > Philip is truely a gifted student and a joy to work with - even though he > often operates at a level beyond me. We explore and learn together; I cannot > say I teach him, he often teaches me. > > As for the level of the questions - Chris asked: > >More fuel for the fire, says I. We need challenge questions we can > >attempt to SOLVE. How can my 5th graders and I be expected to generate > >these kinds of responses??? Surely we are not expected to generate that > >level of response! > > I am new to this list, but from what I have observed by looking at the > student responses posted all levels are accepted. The challenge questions > are answerable at different levels. Obviously 5th graders wouldn't be > expected to answer the way Philip did, but they should be able to think > through the questions and provide their own answer - even if it misses the > mark. The emphasis should be on getting the students to think at their level > and reason through to an answer. > > I say on to Challenge 3 - have you tackled that with your class? Get three > volunteers up in front of your class and have them do a Martian moon dance > and play with rotating & revolving to grasp the concept. It should be fun. > > Verl Smith > Ava High School > Ava, MO > 479-1481@mcimail.com > >