Archive for the ‘math’ Category
Friday Funny: How Sex Education Promotes Abstinence
From my Quotiki sidebar widget:
Conservatives say teaching sex education in the public schools will promote promiscuity. With our education system? If we promote promiscuity the same way we promote math or science, they’ve got nothing to worry about.-
A Math Problem I’d Love to See Assigned - but Probably Won’t
Problem:
Your school building has 100 rooms. Each room has 32 florescent lights of n wattage. The hallways and bathrooms have an additional 300 florescent lights of the same wattage. These lights are on for an average of ten hours a day.
1. Given the cost per lightbulb run at ten hours a day, how much does your school pay each month for lighting?
2. If the school changed its bulbs to (your preferred energy-saving lightbulb here), how much would the school save per month in electricity bills?
3. If the school turned off hallway and classroom lights during peak daylight hours, and relied simply on sunlight from the ample windows in all buildings, how much money would the school save per month?
Test:
Present your findings to the school administration in a proposal that they make the change.
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I’d give anything to find a math teacher who would pose such a problem, and such a test, to our students. I doubt my odds of succeeding in such a search.
“It doesn’t fit the curriculum.” Or: “How do I assess that?” Or: “It’s too messy.” Or: “I don’t have time.”
Any stories out there of similar projects in other schools?
And how could we measure the carbon footprint of the school’s electricity use, and the reduction in carbon emissions by taking the measures listed above?
(Thanks to Karl Fisch for inspiring the thought in his comment to the “Did You Ever Wonder?” video post. Lindsea of Students 2.0 also inspired this question.)
