Three Acts/101qs/#WCYDWT - A First Attempt

So as I'm creating my lesson plans for Algebra 1 for next year (more on that in a future post, hopefully) I'm feeling pretty bad about something. You see, there's all this great material out there developed by other math teachers and I feel bad that I haven't really contributed much to it (other than to publicize it). Not bad enough, however, to not stea . . . borrow all the material. But still, I feel bad.

So as I'm planning I came across a linear equations activity I've done the last few years that involves a story of me going to my recreation center to work out, stretching first and then running on a treadmill, and figuring out calories burned. It's a perfectly fine activity, and it has worked reasonably well, but it's completely text based.

Within the last year, however, we've purchased a treadmill for home. And this morning when I was running on it I thought that perhaps I could dip my toe into creating something useful. So this could fit into a lot of categories, but I'm guessing it might fit into Dan Meyer's three acts, 101qs or perhaps #WCYDWT.

I'm not sure if it really matters where it fits, but I'm posting it here to get some help. My problem with creating material like this is that it's not "natural" for me. I can recognize great stuff that other people create with no problem, but creating it myself is a challenge. My other problem is that I can do basic video editing in iMovie, but that's about it. With those caveats, I think this is a decent start.

In my head, this is how this would sequence.

Update 7-17-13: Split the first video into two videos to make it more obvious where Act 1 ends and the info they're likely to request in Act 2.

Treadmill 1a (Act 1?) - How fast am I running?


Treadmill 1b (Act 2?) - Information they need



Treadmill 2 (Act 3?) - The answer

Treadmill 3 (continuation) - How many calories am I burning? (Internet research based on speed, etc.)

Treadmill 4 (answer to continuation)

Treadmill 5-1 (extension) - How long have I been running?

Treadmill 5-2 (the answer)

Treadmill 6 (Second problem Act 1?) - How long did I walk and how long did I run?

So, constructive criticism/feedback is appreciated - keeping in mind the caveat of limited video editing skills and software :-).

• What would you add/remove/change?
• Does the sequence work?
• In the end, is it any better than an equivalent text-based problem?
• Anything else I should've thought of to ask.

Thanks.