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Middle school math
students investigate ‘rate of speed’
Mr. Roll's math classes recently used the Hess toy dragsters to
investigate rates. The Hess Corporation donated 10 truck and dragster
sets as part of their STEM outreach program. Specifically, the class
looked at speed as a ratio comparing distance to time.
Over the course of 9-12 time trials, students recorded varying
distances and times. Next, they worked in groups to calculate the mean
speed for each track distance as a unit rate of feet per second.
Finally, students used what they have learned about proportions and
conversion rates to find the car's speed as miles per hour.
In the coming week, the classes will use the toy sets again to further
investigate proportions and scale, determining the size of an actual
semi and drag car based off of the models.
Mr. Roll is pleased to report that although there were some harrowing
drag car crashes in the halls of GMS, all model cars survived the time
trials!
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