"Who sunk the Boat? by Pamela Allen, Paffin 1996
Summary:
Once upon a time there were 5 friends, a cow, a donkey, a pig, a sheep and a mouse. One day the five friends decided to go on a boat trip. They entered the boat from the biggest to the smallest causing it every time to go lower and lower into the water. The question is...Who sunk the boat?
Concepts:
The first and most significant mathematical idea in this story is the probability. To be more specific, it talks about the chances that each animal had in sinking the boat. Each animal had a 1/5 probability to have sunk the boat. But the exciting part of this story is that not all the animals weighted the same. This leads to some other mathematical models such as addition, subtraction and division of number so we can find the weight of the animals and which one would most likely be responsible for the sinking. The heaviest animals, such as the cow and the donkey, would have more chances in sinking the boat than the mouse. Also, the story could be an example of input and output. As an animal was entering the boat (input), what was the outcome(output)? Did it sink or not? The last mathematical model that this story could be an example of would be a function with the quantity of the animals on the x-axis and the weight in pounds or kilos on the y-axis. The graph in this case would increase and concave up until the point where the boat sunk.
Literature can be very helpful in learning and understanding mathematical models and mathematics in general. Some people prefer, or they find easier, to learn complex methods through a simple story or images that they can identify with. Also, with the use of real life scenarios and examples, math becomes way more easy to understand, and helpful for everyday life as well.
Great example to show math, but you might want to add more details in your summary of the story. I can understand the story but if you add more details you will be able to paint a better picture, which can help understand the mathematical idea behind it.
ReplyDeleteparis,
ReplyDeleteit sounds like there are so many mathematical concepts in this book! nice text selection! i like that you explained the many possible ways that this book could used to explain/teach mathematical concepts. however, i do agree with paris b. that it would have been nice to have included a little more detail in your synopsis of the plot of the story. other than that, really good job!
professor little