Elementary Workbook 2015

Elementary Workbook
2015
Note to the Teacher:
Our 2015 workbook is designed for students to engage in activities as they
explore Kings Dominion. Rocket Research and How High is High? are activities
intended for education days with the MathScience Innovation Center. The rest
of the activities that follow can be completed any day in the park. One goal of
the activities is to encourage students to see how mathematics and science are
everywhere – and that includes fun places like Kings Dominion.
Please note that the activities in this workbook are open-ended to allow for
exploration and discovery. Another important aspect of students’ work that you
will see in this workbook is the central role of explanation and the sharing of
ideas. Collaboration on activities and tasks is highly encouraged and all
members of the team must be able to understand and explain how their team
arrived at their results.
Finally, please encourage students to try. Many times students wait for exact
instruction from a teacher before they engage in a task only to mimic the steps
given to them. The activities in this workbook, though guided, are intended to
give students some latitude in searching for mathematics and science concepts
gently tucked away in the fun at the park.
Page 1
What’s in this workbook?
Name
Rocket Research
Common Core
Virginia Standards of
Learning (SOL)
Major concept/task
6.EE.9
m4.7
Set up and test a variable
(Education Days Only)
PS.10
Rate the Ride
Watching Winners
s3.1 s4.1 s5.1
s6.1 s7.1 s8.1
LS.1
m8.17
What a Wonderful Day
m4.13 m4.14 m5.14
m7.9
s4.6
Curious Quests
s3.2
My KD Mascot
s3.4 LS.9
How High is High?
7.SP.5 7.SP.6
S.MD.5
4.MD.6
G.SRT.8
m5.11 m8.6 T.9
(Education Days Only)
Shape Search
3.G.1
m3.14 m4.12 m5.13
m6.13 m7.7
Page 2
Design a rating system using
qualitative data
Gathering data from
experimental probability
Use knowledge of weather to
rate the day for outdoor
activity
Apply knowledge of simple
machines to real world
situations
Apply knowledge of
environment to animal habitat
Measure angles and use a table
to find the height of an
inaccessible object
Recognize geometric shapes in
real world setting
Rocket Research
At Kings Dominion, try your hand at an experiment at the Rocket Research table. With a
partner design a rocket and launch it up, up and away. It’s as easy as 3-2-1.
3. Choose your nose cone.
2. Choose your fins (number of fins and shape).
1. Design 2 identical rockets with one small change.
What did you change? _____________________________________
(Independent Variable)
Which rocket do you think will travel farther (dependent
variable)? Explain why you think that below (hypothesis).
My Hypothesis:
Now test your prediction. Set up your experiment so all the variables are the same except the
one thing you and your partner switched.
What were the results?
What can you conclude about your experiment?
Do your results make sense? Yes or No
________________________________
Why or Why not?
Does your experiment mean those same results will happen every time? Yes or No
Be prepared to explain and share your answer.
Page 3
Rate My Ride
Part of your time at Kings Dominion is seeing how many rides you can discover during your stay. It’s very
difficult to ride every ride in a single day. Choices need to be made. Designing a metric can help you
determine which rides you should tackle today.
To begin, list 5 aspects of rides that are important to you when deciding which rides you want to ride.
List them below.
Important When Choosing A Ride
Now score each one based on how important it is to you. (1 through 10 – 1 is the lowest, 10 is the
highest)
Length
of
ride
is
important to me, so I
am going to give my
favorite ride, the Rebel
Yell, a 9.
Using your system, determine which ride you should go to first. Which
one would be next? And next?
1.
2.
3.
Now look at the map of the park. Estimate how long it will take you to ride your top 3
rides including travel time to each ride. ____________
What factors did you use to help you make your estimate?
Does this affect the order? Yes or No.
Why or why not? Explain
Page 4
Watching Winners
Is there a way to increase your odds of winning a big prize without the need to spend a small fortune?
Or, at least figure out how often you have to play a game before you are fairly certain you will win a
prize?
Just as athletes and coaches watch their opponents play to figure out a way to win, so can you. Find a
game or prize that you like. Now stand back and watch to see how often someone wins a big prize.
Keep track of how often the game is played (with wins and losses too). Also note skill. Is there
something the winner did differently to help them win?
Special skill or technique needed:
Conclusion:
Page 5
What a Wonderful Day
What would be the perfect day at Kings Dominion? Using your knowledge of weather,
determine which factors mean the most to your day at the park. Is it better to be 80 degrees
and humid or 85 degrees and dry? Use your own scale to find the perfect conditions then rate
the day.
Weather includes factors such as temperature, humidity, sunniness, cloudiness, rain, and wind.
Determine the recipe for the perfect day. Place a mark in each row to help determine your perfect day.
More of
↙ This
Factor
Equal
Amounts
More of
This ↘
Factor
Cloudy
Sunny
Humid
Dry
Calm
Windy
Dry
Rain
Hot
Cold
Write a sentence or two that describes your perfect day:
Page 6
Curious Quests
Simple machines help us by giving us what is called a mechanical advantage. Usually that means
the machine helps us move something more easily.
Simple machines include: incline plane, lever, pulley, wheel & axel, screw, and wedge. Each is
shown below.
Simple Machines
Motion is a big part of the fun at Kings Dominion. The rides use many, many simple machines
to add fun, speed, energy efficiency, and safety. The question is, can you find them?
You have your quest, you choose your level of expertise.
Level 1 – Entry Level Seeker - pick a ride, find as many simple machines in that ride as you can.
Level 2 –Intermediate Seeker - find at least one example of each simple machine mentioned above (use
as many rides as you like).
Level 3 – Expert Seeker - find the ride that has the most simple machines. (Be sure to keep track of the
ones you eliminated to arrive at your winner.)
Page 7
Curious Quests
Name
of the
Ride
What does the
Location of the Simple
Simple Machine
Simple Machine
Machine on the Ride
do for the ride?
Page 8
My KD Mascot
Spend some time walking the park. Note the terrain, the plants, the people, and everything
that makes up Kings Dominion. Now, using your knowledge of animals, pick the best animal to
be a KD mascot in the park.
Which animal would you choose?
What type of living area is
best suited for your
animal?
List 3 characteristics of
Kings Dominion that
matter to animals
1.
2.
3.
How is your animal
prepared to handle those
conditions?
1.
2.
3.
Where is your animal
going to sleep?
What traits would your mascot need to develop that would make him/her better suited for life at Kings
Dominion?
Draw your animal here and label any traits that make your choice a fit for a life in the park.
Page 9
*This activity is 3 pages*
How High is High?
Clinometer Template
TAPE WEIGHTED STRING HERE
TAPE STRAW HERE
* For best results, print on cardstock
Mathematics allows us to go places we cannot get to. Using a clinometer, you can figure out
the distance (or in this case the height) of an object using your line of sight (eye).
DIRECTIONS: Cut out the template above. Use a piece of sting or yarn a little longer than the 0line above and a weight (like a washer). Tie the washer to one end of the string and tape the
other end to the marked vertex above. Tape the straw as shown above.
USE: The easiest way to use it is look through one end while a partner
reads the angle where the string is dangling.
25˚ angle
Page 10
How High is High? (continued)
Using the table of values below, we can calculate the height of objects without having to leave
the ground! All we need is the distance we are from the object, and the angle from where we
are to the height of that object.
Height
Distance
Luckily, at Kings Dominion has some distances marked off for you. The distance multiplied by
the tangent (tan.) will give you the height of the object.
ABOUT THIS CHART: Triangles are unique shapes, and right triangles are very powerful when designing, building and calculating.
If you know one angle of a right triangle (besides the right angle), then you can calculate the measures of all the sides by
knowing just one side of the triangle. The angle measures and the relationship they make with the sides of the triangle are
listed below.
Angle
Tan.
Angle
Tan.
Angle
Tan.
Angle
Tan.
Angle
Tan.
Angle
Tan.
1°
2°
3°
4°
5°
6°
7°
8°
9°
10°
11°
12°
13°
14°
.02
.03
.05
.07
.09
.11
.12
.14
.16
.18
.19
.21
.23
.25
15°
16°
17°
18°
19°
20°
21°
22°
23°
24°
25°
26°
27°
28°
.27
.29
.31
.32
.34
.36
.38
.40
.42
.45
.47
.49
.51
.53
29°
30°
31°
32°
33°
34°
35°
36°
37°
38°
39°
40°
41°
42°
.55
.58
.60
.62
.65
.67
.70
.73
.75
.78
.81
.84
.87
.90
43°
44°
45°
46°
47°
48°
49°
50°
51°
52°
53°
54°
55°
56°
.93
.97
1.00
1.04
1.07
1.11
1.15
1.19
1.23
1.28
1.33
1.38
1.43
1.48
57°
58°
59°
60°
61°
62°
63°
64°
65°
66°
67°
68°
69°
70°
1.54
1.60
1.66
1.73
1.80
1.88
1.96
2.05
2.14
2.25
2.36
2.48
2.61
2.75
71°
72°
73°
74°
75°
76°
77°
78°
79°
80°
81°
82°
83°
84°
2.90
3.08
3.27
3.49
3.73
4.01
4.33
4.70
5.14
5.67
6.31
7.12
8.14
9.51
Don’t take our word for it, try for yourself. Make 2 right triangles that
have the same angles but different lengths for its sides. Use a fraction
issee
High?
to compare the sides How
to one High
another,
what (continued)
you discover!
Page 11
How High is High? (continued)
Calculating the height
The decimal number in the chart gives you the ratio of height to distance for the angle given. It tells you what part
of the distance is used compared to the height of the object. So, for example, if the angle is 64° then the height is
a little more than two times the distance.
So, how many heights can you calculate around the park?
Use the chart below to record your findings.
Ride
Angle
Distance
from Ride
Calculations
HEIGHT
BONUS QUESTION: Mark found that from where he was standing, the Eifel Tower and the
tallest hill on the Rebel Yell were the same distance to his position. He predicted that they
would be the same height since he was the same distance from the two rides. Is Mark’s
prediction correct? Explain using mathematical thinking and your knowledge of finding heights.
Page 12
Shape Search
Shapes, shapes are everywhere. What shapes can you find in the park? Find
as many different types of shapes as you can.
Have fun. With a partner, give yourself a set amount of time to find shapes
around the park. How many can you find in 20 minutes? Can you find more
than your partner?
Use the chart below to keep track.
Location
Base of the first hill on the
Ricochet.
Shape Found
triangle
Evidence
It has three sides, that means it a
Number of different shapes: 1 to 4 Amateur Sleuth
5 to 9 A Searching Professional
10 or more The Great Finder!
Page 13
triangle.