Source: Cyberchase: "The Grapes of Plath"
Funding for the VITAL/Ready to Teach collection was secured through the United States Department of Education under the Ready to Teach Program.
In this video segment from Cyberchase, the CyberSquad is trying to get to Crab Kingdom. First, they must estimate how far the trip is in order to determine how much power they need in their underwater bikes to complete the mission. Since each vehicle has a certain amount of power, the CyberSquad must then decide which vehicle to choose based on how much energy they estimate they will need.
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 plan ahead sometimes you need to do some estimating. For example, have you ever had to plan for something like going shopping and had to think about how much money you should bring with you? How did you go about doing that? Did you use any math? What is the difference between guessing and estimating? Are they the same thing?
Focus: As you watch the video segment, think about how the CyberSquad decides which underwater vehicle to use. Watch to see how they estimate the time and distance involved.
Follow Up: Do you think the CyberSquad’s estimation is reasonable? Why or why not? What mathematical operations did they use to help them make their estimate? Why was it a good idea for the CyberSquad to estimate high? When does your family use estimation involving time and distance? Can you give an example?
DIGIT: It is. The smaller the tank – the faster the bike.
MATT: And faster is what we need. Six minutes of power should get us to the Kingdom and back.
DIGIT: And you know that...how?
MATT: Well, check the map. It doesn't look that far away.
INEZ: But you don’t really know for sure...so you're just guessing.
MATT: Yeah,...I guess I am.
JACKIE: WHAT?! We can't guess. We need to estimate and a lot closer than we did the last time.
MATT: So let's break the trip into smaller pieces, that could help.
INEZ: Okay. We've got to go to... Croissant Cave... to Hot Dog Valley...and to Crab Kingdom. And the same three places coming back.
JACKIE: If we knew about how much power it took to travel to Croissant Cave, we could use that to estimate what we need for the whole trip.
MATT: There's the Cave - it's not that far away. It's about the same distance as from my house to the park - and I can ride my bike to the park in about two minutes.
INEZ: So riding one of those A-PUMs there and back should take about four minutes.
MATT: This one's got six minutes. I'll double check the time. Send me out, Didge!
JACKIE: Matt, maybe you better take one with a bigger power tank, just in case.
MATT: Don't worry, I've got two minutes to spare.
DIGIT: Keep an eye on your power gauge, and head back before your power’s half gone, no matter what! Okay?
DELETE: I like it down here, Buzzy. Food makes me happy.
BUZZ: Keep your eyes open for donuts.
HACKER: We're looking for grapes, you dimwitted duncebuckets! Once those gooshy grapes grace my chin, I'll be re-Hackerized!
BUZZ: Boss, look!
DELETE: It's one of those earth brats!
MATT: Oh oh! The power's almost half gone. I better head back.
MATT: HACKER!
HACKER: Where are those grapes?!
DIGIT: Six minutes is almost up!
JACKIE: Either our estimate is way off...or something happened to Matt!
INEZ: Wait! Isn't that Matt?
JACKIE: Yeah, but isn't that...Hacker!
DIGIT: That's not the worst of it! Matty's almost out of power!
HACKER: Where did that meddling moppet go?!
BUZZ AND DELETE: He went this-away/that-away.
JACKIE: Matt! That was way too close! Hacker almost nailed you.
MATT: Not only that...I'm out of power!
INEZ: Good thing we tested our estimate.
MATT: Yeah, it took almost three full minutes to reach the cave – not two, like I thought.
INEZ: So now we know that for each of the distances we have to ride, we need at least three minutes of power.
MATT: Three minutes from here to here... plus three minutes from here to here...plus three minutes from here to here...equals nine minutes of power to reach Crab Kingdom.
JACKIE: And we need nine minutes to get back. Nine plus nine is eighteen.
DIGIT: This baby right here. Eighteen minutes worth of power!
INEZ: I don't know Didge, that's cutting it way too close for me. Better estimate high, just to be safe.
DIGIT: Good point! The twenty-four minute tank is the way to go.
MATT: But the bigger the tank, the slower we go.
JACKIE: Better to be slow than sorry, Matt. What if we run out of power before we get back?
INEZ: Twenty-four minus eighteen leaves...six. We've got six extra minutes of power. We're good to go!
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