Chilean Mine Rescue and Math ... Yes, sir!

White City 6^th Grade TRC Teacher, Cathy Stewart, used the Chilean Mine Rescue as an opportunity to work with her students on several “real world” math applications. During the project, the students practiced estimation, prediction, measurement, metric/standard conversions, working with time, rate, and distance, Celsius/Fahrenheit conversions, geometric shapes, and diameter. In order to get a visual picture of how far into the earth the miners were, students were to find out how many football fields standing end on end it would take to reach the miners. With meter sticks in hand, students headed to the football field to measure the distance from goal post to goal post. Before they went out to the field, they estimated or predicted how many meters long the field is. Some were close – some not so close! The next part of the project was to create a model Phoenix. The class was divided into three groups: one group made the top part of the Phoenix, the second group made the bottom part of the Phoenix, and the third group made the supply line. The model of the Phoenix was created using its exact measurements. Problem solving skills were quickly put to use as students figured out how to create a cylinder to an exact diameter. Exact measurements were important since the model was being created in two parts that would need to match. Once the Phoenix was assembled, students got to experience, in a small way, what it was like for the miners to be in the Phoenix. Celsius temperature readings meant very little to the students, but once they made the conversion they said, “Mrs. Stewart, it was really hot down in the mine!” They were also quite amazed at the size of the Phoenix and the supply line. This project definitely illustrates that those “teachable moments” are often the very best experiences for students. Mrs. Stewart and her students created a voice thread to preserve this experience and to share what they learned.

Voice Thread

Chilean Miners and math