Perhaps the main assignment could be to animate the situation in Desmos.

Please see Jonathan Newman’s Desmos animation above.

Of course, this has turned a homework problem into an activity, so not really a makeover.

I wouldn’t disqualify that as a makeover, personally.

The static situation could be modeled easily enough with three lines and domain restrictions. Next, using a slider for tide level, model the situation dynamically. Finally, adjust the model to fit some constraints as mentioned in the original questions. Perhaps even develop a model with additional slider(s) for dock length, max angle, etc.

Of course, this has turned a homework problem into an activity, so not really a makeover.

Steel tri rolls the tide.
Campeón of ramp we’re on:
Cheap, no fumbled babe.

An open-ended question like that is how we would normally assess a trigonometric topic in New Zealand.

The top kids would have to cost the ramp too, which is composed of its own little trig problems. Steel is $10 a metre, and you need to order the right amount to make the ramp.

The problem is that it is a total pain to mark. Every question has to be scanned thoroughly for correctness at every point, because there is no “correct” answer. So setting your problem for my class would take them maybe 20 minutes, and my whole evening marking it. (No, they can’t check their neighbour’s — if nothing else they are very poor judges of what “sufficient” working is, and they will reinforce each other’s desire to do as little working as possible.)

That means the problem is good, and I can imagine using some version of it when I teach trig this year, but it can’t be a question I give every day.

If Desmos or the like can check all the parts on the way, then it becomes possible.

Karim, can you rework that into a makeover haiku?

Justin:

After spending 8 years as an engineer prior to teaching, I always felt that I’d include all kinds of stuff from my engineering life into teaching. However, now that I am slightly wiser and more humbled, that stuff is too specialized, only interesting to me and maybe 2 other kids on a good day.

Helpful perspective here. What’s interesting to me is that the same application from the world of work (say, this marine ramp) can be imported by math classes in 100 different ways, some more interesting and successful than others. I don’t think the format chosen by BCIT — a page-long word problem, essentially — sets students up for interest or success. What other formats exist?

https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/56987bde42ea0aaf382ff727

Help me improve it!