Diving Deep Into Math

Diving Deep Into Math

A WebQuest for 5th or 6th grade Mathematics and Science

Have you ever wanted to explore the depths of the ocean? Well, in this fun, interactive activity you will get to do just that! You will become a deep sea diver and get to discover all the amazing things that live in the dark, mysterious depths of the ocean! Before you can begin, however, you need to read The Incredible Record-Setting Deep-Sea Dive of the Bathysphere by Brad Matsen. This story about two very brave divers who plunged into the ocean in a small steel ball will help you learn more about the ocean and will, hopefully, get you excited to learn even more on your own! Finally, as you are reading, try to think about all the times math appears in the book!

Task

During this activity, you will take on the role of a deep sea diver. Instead of swimming in the sea, you will swim in the depths of the World Wide Web. The selected Web sites will help you discover what life is like beneath the surface. You will need to be very observant of your surroundings in order to complete the required tasks. Be prepared to draw colorful images, record and analyze your findings, and log your discoveries in your Sea Journal. At the end of your journey, you will share your pictures, graphs, and Sea Journal with the class for a grade.

NCTM Standards

NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, Standard 5, Data Analysis and Probability, grades 3-5: Instructional Programs should enable all students to formulate questions that can be addressed with data and collect, organize, and display relevant data to answer them –

· represent data using tables and graphs such as line plots, bar graphs, and line graphs.

NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, Standard 5, Data Analysis and Probability, grades 6-8: Instructional Programs should enable all students to understand and apply basic concepts of probability

· use proportionality and a basic understanding of probability to make and test conjectures about the results of experiments and simulations.

NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, Standard 8, Communication, grades 6-8: Instructional programs should enable all students to communicate their mathematical thinking coherently and clearly to peers, teachers, and others.

Sources

Public Broadcasting Service. (2004). Nature: Life at the edge of the sea. Retrieved November 4, 2004, from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/edgeofsea/

Hines, C. L. (2004). The official William Beebe web site. Retrieved November 4, 2004, from http://hometown.aol.com/chines6930/mw1/beebe1.htm

Calver, T. (2000). Discovery.com-life on the reef. Retrieved November 4, 2004, from http://www.discovery.com/exp/coralreef/coralreef.html

Eschmeyer, B., & Randall, J. (2004). Discovery channel: blue planet. Retrieved November 4, 2004, from http://media.dsc.discovery.com/convergence/blueplanet/alert/alert.html

National Geographic Society. (2004). National geographic geography action: ocean, coast habitat. Retrieved November 4, 2004, from http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geographyaction/habitats/oceans.html

Masten, B. (2003). The incredible record-setting deep-sea dive of the Bathysphere. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, Inc.

Process

Read The Incredible Record-Setting Deep-Sea Dive of the Baythsphere by Brad Matsen.
Create a Sea Journal. The journal will be a small notebook with a decorated cover. Please include your name on the inside cover.
Visit all of the Web sites listed in the Sources section. Use these web sites to give you an idea of what a deep sea diver might encounter. You will need to write at least one page in your Sea Journal on each Web site you visit. You should record all interesting or important facts regarding life under the sea.
Using your Sea Journal and the Web sites, draw and color a picture of what you think you would see deep below the surface of the ocean. You must include 20 objects in your drawing. The objects can be living organisms such as fish, coral reefs, and plants or can be nonliving objects such as a sunken ship.
Using your drawing, list the 20 objects in your picture on a new page in your Sea Journal.
Assign each object to one of the following categories: fish, shark, crustacean, plant, coral reef, nonliving object, or miscellaneous.
Use the information gathered in steps 4 and 5 to create a graph in your Sea Journal. The graph should clearly display the relationship between the number of objects in each category.
On the next page in your Sea Journal, find the probability that another deep sea diver would pass the same objects as you did.
The last section of your Sea Journal will be a glossary of terms. List any terms you did not know previously or terms you feel are important to deep sea diving. You must have at least 10 terms and their corresponding definitions in your Sea Journal.

Evaluation

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Sea Journal	Sea Journal has a unique, creative, and decorated cover and name on the inside cover.	Sea Journal has a decorated cover and name on the inside cover.	Sea Journal has a cover and name on the inside cover.	Sea Journal is missing either (or both) a cover or name on the inside cover.
Sources	All five Web sites were visited, and there is ample information recorded from each site.	Four Web sites were visited, and there is ample information recorded from each site.	Three Web sites were visited, and there is a little information recorded from each site.	Only one or two Web sites were visited, and there is not much information recorded from either site.
Drawing	Drawing is creative, colorful, and contains at least 20 objects.	Drawing is colorful and contains at least 18 objects.	Drawing contains at least 15 objects.	Drawing contains fewer than 15 objects.
Graph	Graph is accurate, neat, and clearly displays all necessary data.	Graph is fairly accurate, neat, and displays almost all of the necessary data.	Graph displays some of the necessary data.	Graph is hard to read and does not contain much (or any) of the necessary data.
Probabilities	The probability of passing each type of object is accurately and neatly recorded.	The probability of passing most types of objects is accurately and neatly recorded.	The probability of passing some of the types of objects is recorded.	The probability of passing only a few (or none) of the types of objects is recorded.
Vocabulary	At least 10 terms and their corresponding definitions are accurately and neatly recorded.	At lest eight terms and their corresponding definitions are accurately and neatly recorded.	At least six terms and their corresponding definitions are recorded.	Fewer than six terms and their corresponding definitions are recorded.

Conclusion

After completing this activity, you will have a very extensive Sea Journal to use as a reference in the future. Hopefully you have enjoyed this activity and have a better understanding of the abundant life in the sea. You may not have realized how much math was used on your exploration. You read about math in The Incredible Record-Setting Deep-Sea Dive of the Baythsphere and used math when making your graph and calculating probabilities. Can you think of any other ways math was used in this activity? Did this activity spark your interest to learn more about deep sea diving or the ocean? If you would like read about more incredible deep sea adventures, visit http://www.enslow.com/htmlnasp.asp?file=homepagehtml.html