Concepts used:

Estimation

Area

Charts

Formulas


Grade level:

Grades 4-8


Subject areas:

Math

Social Studies


Standards

NCTM

- Measurement

- Data Analysis

- Problem Solving

- Connections

  1. -Representations

  2. -Technology


2007 NETS*S

1c, 3a, 3d, 4c, 6a, 6b


 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Estimates  (Kmz)

Objectives

  1. •Estimate area of irregular shapes.

  2. •Estimate area using a grid pattern and Pick’s Theorem.

  3. •Use an interactive widget to estimate oil leak rates.

  4. •Gain knowledge on the oil spill and offshore drilling.


Lesson Description

Unfortunately, real world math lessons are sometimes learned from tragedy.  The Deepwater Horizon oil spill has become a major ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.  Estimating how much oil has leaked has become a matter of debate among many different sources.


The exercises in this Kmz will present students with several methods to estimate the area of irregular regions.  Oil spill maps from NOAA are used as overlays in Google Earth in a series of problems.  With the use of grid lines of latitude and longitude, the areas of surface oil are estimated first as a rough estimate and then using Pick’s Theorem.  Links to information on offshore oil drilling are included in the file as well as a fabulous interactive widget from PBS NewsHour that calculates how much oil has leaked.  The file contains folders within folders.  Be sure to read the Teacher’s Notes download to correctly manage folders.


Additionally, a 3D SketchUp model of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Platform is included for instructional purposes.  A version of the model is included with the Google Earth file and appears in the Gulf of Mexico where the accident occurred. 


Note:  Some of the resources used for this lesson are linked to live feeds.  They may become unavailable in the future.  Reformatting of this lesson may occur in the future. (Updated February 2011)



Downloads

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill - Google Earth kmz file

Teacher Notes - Word.docx

Student Worksheet - Word.docx


Deepwater Horizon SketchUp Model - SketchUp .skp file 

Model Notes - Word .docx




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