Find your way through the dark of a story-problem

WARNING: Danger Ahead! Flight 25 was delayed and running behind schedule. Everyone was eager to get home to Ohio. The pilot was frustrated by the storms that had rocked the plane for much of the way from Denver, Colorado. There were 150 passengers all in a hurry to land at Akron-Canton airport after a long and uncomfortable flight. The pilot was also tired and very eager to get this plane safely on the ground.

Danger Ahead! The Akron control tower was having a hard time contacting Flight 25 with the radio so they sent an emergency text message to the pilot. “Slow your speed so you land at 9 o’clock instead of 8:30pm on runway #2. Then turn right immediately onto runway 2a. Do you understand?”

Danger Ahead! The pilot sent back “I understand” and slowed her speed from 200 to 100 miles per hour. As she approached the airport she saw that the fog was thick above the runways. She wondered what the emergency was all about and checked her watch. “Oh, no, it’s 8:50pm”. She was 10 minutes early. Would that be a problem, she wondered? Always a careful pilot she flicked on the plane’s radar so she could see through the fog what was ahead.

Danger Ahead! The radar transmitted a beam that pierced the thick fog and was bounced back to the receiver where a bright red shape appeared in the middle of her screen. “What the heck is that?!?” she said aloud. She double checked her calculations and saw that the plane's auto-pilot had them headed directly towards runway #1. Uh-ho. That was not good. The instructions were to land on runway #2 not #1. The instruments indicated she was ¼ mile from the runway. She did a quick calculation – if she hurried, she had just enough time to slow her speed by 50 mph and turn sharply toward runway #2, if her calculations were correct.

yikes! The heads of 30 passengers were jerked sharply to the side as the plane lurched and then with a hard thud they hit the tarmac. In fog as thick as pea soup they turned smoothly onto runway 2a and rolled up to the gate gliding past a broken down airplane that had runway #1 completely blocked. – whew !– They were safe on the ground thanks to the efforts of a pilot who was tired and in a hurry to get home but her careful thinking and accurate calculations saved all of their lives!

To navigate your way in the dark so you don’t get lost you need to make a really good map.

Pilots use radar to find their way in the fog and night…. Radar sends out pulses that are bounced back to the pilot from objects they hit. Then they can make a really good map!

transmit….

How RADAR works… An airplane's radar is like a flashlight that sends out radio waves instead of light. The plane transmits an radar beam and then "listens" for that beam to bounce back from nearby objects. It calculates how much time it takes for the beam to bounce back to know how far away the object is.

receive….

What RADAR does…. 1. Sending 2. Listening 3. Recording 4. Processing 5. Display 6. Map it!

RADAR parts

Your brain uses R.A.D.A.R. to read and think…. 1. Ask questions 2. Listen 3. Record 4. Calculate 5. Display 6. Answer it!

How can I make a map to solve a problem when I’m in the dark and I don’t UNDERSTAND ? TURN ON YOUR R.A.D.A.R!

R EAD IT A CTIVATE IT D IG IN A M I RIGHT? R EJOICE!

READ IT Send out your questions…… 1. What’s being asked? x it out… 2. What are the Key MATH Clues? footprints… 3. Will the answer be BIGGER or SMALLER than the clues? 4. How many steps? 5. What calculations will I do? What first? What second? Transmit……

ACTIVATE IT Listen for the echoes……receive Key Clues 1. Imagine 2. Sketch 3. Gesture the steps 3. Hum and sing it out! 4. Whisper Phone it 5. Move with it 6. Debate it

DIG IN Calculate Step 1, Step 2….using Key Clues 1. Guess-timate the possible answer 2. Step 1 3. Step 2 6. Is Step 3 needed?

AM I RIGHT?-> - > REJOICE Compare your answer to your guess-timate 1. Reverse the steps Check your calculations… 3. Did you follow the strategy… 4. Did you answer the exact question asked?

AH- HA!

Congratulations! We’ve arrived safely at our answer.