Okay, so if you let the toaster cool down in between rounds, it is (more or less) linear. (Contra Dave’s experiment.)
Meyer โ Toaster Regression from Dan Meyer on Vimeo.
Here, also, is an array of toast:
Try this:
You get, well, rather uninteresting results. Had to scratch that itch, though.
Is he going to make it? Can you draw me the path of a shot that will make it? That will miss it?
How about now? Can you draw me the path of a shot that will make it? That will miss it?
How about now? Can you draw me the path of a shot that will make it? That will miss it?
A little more obvious, isn’t it? And like that, we’ve derived illustrated the fact that, while one point is enough to define a point, and while two points are enough to define a line, you need three points to define a parabola.
Basketball Strobes โ Full Take 4 from Dan Meyer on Vimeo.
Here are seven versions of the same problem. Each one contains:
Attachments
David Cox has WCYDWT by the throat. He used digital video, Adobe AfterEffects, and MovieMaker to export a clever visualization of toaster times versus toaster settings.
Toaster Question from David Cox on Vimeo.
Not that he asked, but I wouldn’t change a lot here. I’d rather see the data for settings one through four and use those to regress the eighth setting. By providing the seventh setting and asking for the eighth, he’s made it easier for students to jump right into the math which makes it less likely that my remedial students will invest a guess.
I would have also sped up the first four videos (even more) because I want my students’ impatient toe-tapping aligned to the question, “when will it end?” not before.
It’s really strong work, though, and you’re only going to see more of it from David because it just gets easier and easier to clear the annoying technical hurdles of video production. Soon he won’t even notice them and it’ll be as if there isn’t anything in between the curriculum he can imagine and the curriculum he can create.
The documentary was filmed over three years. Among those interviewed were his two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall.
[via Jeff Weintraub]
2011 Sep 18: “We invited the strippers, JFK and Stalin.”
2012 Mar 09. This post references this task.
Greg Hitt put this image up in front of his class and couldn’t get them back:
So, anyways, they could see plain as day about the objectโs motion, seeing the way that the vertical component of velocity goes towards zero, inspecting the horizontal component and seeing that it stays more or less the same. Again, the clarity of the image made it so they could see it, without me having to tell them. Good! Success! Time to move on! โWait!โ the kid yells. โDoes he make the shot?โ
Sometimes the picture asks a question so loudly you have to answer it.
2011 Mar 09. Andrew Stadel:
Best quote from a kid: “Can we watch the video to see if he makes it?” No, we have to finish our graphs “It’s killing me. I gotta know!”
