Source: Cyberchase: “On the Line”
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In this video segment from Cyberchase, the CyberSquad is trying to locate a lost Transformatron. Matt can see it along one line, while Jackie says she can see it along a different line. Digit and Inez try to figure out how this is possible.
Download and ShareHere are some Frame, Focus and Follow-up suggestions for using this video in a math lesson.
What is Frame, Focus and Follow-up?
Frame: When you think about streets in your neighborhood or streets on a map, you can see how they resemble lines in some ways. Are streets always straight? Can they be straight? Can they intersect? How would you describe them if they ran next to each other, going in the same direction and never intersected?
Focus: In this segment, watch as Digit tries to make a model of what Jackie and Matt are telling him about the location of the Transformatron. Notice what kind of lines he makes to represent the lines Jackie and Matt describe. What kind of lines are they?
Follow Up: Do you think Digit’s model is accurate? Do you think Jackie and Matt can both be right? How?
INEZ: Way to go, guys! The transformatron’s somewhere between where you are and Sneaky Peak!
MATT: No! Not Sneaky Peak! I'm on a sand dune...and the transformatron is on a straight line between me and a bird-shaped mountain!
DIGIT: The Dunes...and Eagle Rock!
INEZ: But how can Matt see a mountain shaped like a bird - when Jackie sees one with snow on it?!
DIGIT: Somebody's gotta be wrong!
JACKIE: Well, it's not me! I'm looking right at a snowy mountain!
MATT: I'm telling you, it's on a straight line between me and Eagle Rock! So you're wrong about where the transformatron is!
JACKIE: No way! I am not wrong!
HACKER: Oh, Motherboard...what BIG plans I have for you...
DIGIT: Matt...Jackie, just stay there - and stop arguing, okay? Give us a chance to figure this out.
INEZ: Okay, what do we know? We know there's only one transformatron, so it can't be on the line Jackie sees... AND on the line Matt sees. Can it?
DIGIT: 'Cause the same thing can’t be on two different lines at once. Right?
INEZ: Right...I think. Let’s see. Let's say this stick is Jackie, and this white rock is Sneaky Peak. If we draw a straight line connecting these two points...
DIGIT: One straight line...comin' up. He pulls a length of red string out of his hatch and stretches it between the stick and white rock.
INEZ: So the transformatron has to be somewhere on this line.
DIGIT: Not so fast! And he saw the transformatron on this line that connects them.
INEZ: How is that possible? How can one transformatron be on two different lines at the same time? And they're parallel!
DIGIT: When two lines are parallel, they stay the same distance apart FOREVER - they can never meet. Even I know that!
INEZ: But the transformatron has to be someplace on a line where they can both see it? So where is it?!
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