|
University of Massachusetts > STEM > August 2008 Real World Math & Science
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | The Wind Business
The business of wind farming is booming but, as these three professionals explain, it's not as simple as sticking a pole in the ground and watching the turbines turn. It can take years to plan and engineer these state-of-the-art wind farms. It's a problem-solving process that draws on an understanding of algebra, geometry, kinetic energy, electronics and just about everything in between in order to turn one of our most abundant natural resources into a viable business.
Watch the movie
GEOMETRY THAT SPARKLES | Gems & Jewelry
Lines, curves, polygons and planes--gemstones and jewelry are rich in geometry. A jewelry appraiser, a jewelry historian and a Brazilian gem cutter give your students an inside look at the many facets of this dazzling subject.
Watch the movie
HANDS-ON MATH | Food in Space
Take your students on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Space Food Systems Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center. It is here that Dr. Michelle Perchonok and a team of food scientists are developing the meals for upcoming missions to the Moon and Mars.
Watch the movie
PROBLEM SOLVING | Bobcat Stats
Students in the role of zookeepers create scatter plots of height and weight data to determine if the bobcat they've been assigned to care for is underweight.
Get the activity
PROBLEM SOLVING | Predicting Future Olympic Times
Students use Olympic winning times in several sports from 1956 to 1996 to graph and mathematically model predictions for the next forty years. Are athletes from this year's games above or below the trend?
Get the activity
ENGINEERING SOUND | Cancelling Noise
Dr. Amar Bose tells the fascinating story of how he invented the "Acoustic Noise-Cancelling Headphones" and how it took math to make it work.
Watch this classic
ALGEBRA IN THE REAL WORLD | The Starshade
Is there life on planets in other star systems? It's a very old question. But finding the answer may get simpler, thanks to a breakthrough made by astrophysicist, professor and inventor Webster Cash.
Treat your students to this innovative concept that could lead to incredible discoveries, and be sure to check out the companion classroom activity that connects a common observation of car headlights in the distance to angles, trigonometric ratios and astrophysics.
Watch the movie
PROBLEM SOLVING | Frame Stress
When force is applied to something to see how it affects its shape, it is often called stress. The amount of bending can be measured as an angle, and is called the deflection. This activity places students in a bicycle R&D lab where they must graph and predict deflection for a new bicycle frame design.
Get the lesson
THIS SCIENCE IS FOR THE DOGS | Veterinary Medicine
Young people who like animals often think about a career in veterinary medicine, but do they connect that goal to their classroom lessons? Introduce them to Pamela Dendtler, a veterinarian and business owner who relies on math and science every day.
Watch this classic
THE MATH IN A MEAL | The Bakery
Whether he's making fresh bread, mouth-watering chocolate croissants or perfectly flaky apricot Danishes, this baker has to make sure that he has just the right amount of each ingredient. What's one of his most important tools? Math.
Watch the movie
The PDF files on this page require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.
|
This is an