White Bear Lake has been in the news a lot recently: Minnesota Public Radio is doing a big project about our dropping groundwater levels, for instance. And now that the holidays are over (Happy New Year all!) I've got the first pass worksheet for exploring White Bear Lake mathematically. No calculus yet, just an exploration of the area and volume of the lake. On average, White Bear Lake is pretty shallow. I think that's one reason the drop is so noticeable, especially on the western shore of the lake. In the worksheet students can find out just how shallow WBL is and also deal with big numbers.
As a teacher, I think this is an appropriate worksheet for a class that's dealing with big numbers (scientific notation would be great here!) and units.
- Scientific notation!
- Changing units.
- Average depth from knowledge volume and area.
Precalc: Volume And Average Depth
If you've got suggestions for improving the worksheet, let me know! And check out my email subscription list on the side -- I will email you about the EarthCalculus book I'm putting together right now....