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Related Math Activities
Grains Per Cubic Meter
Overview
In this lesson students will construct a cubic meter in order to simulate
a pollen count. Pollen count is measured in grains per cubic meter
which is a concept students need to visualize for the project, Pollen Counts.
Objectives
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Learner will develop the ability to construct a cubic meter.
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Learner will develop the ability to calculate the number of cubic meters
in the classroom using estimation with counting.
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Learner will develop the ability to calculate the number of cubic meters
in the classroom using the formula: V=lwh
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Learner will develop the ability to visualize a pollen count of grains
per cubic meter for the classroom.
Materials
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A large box with three faces forming a corner
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Dowels or straws and tape
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Meter sticks or tape measures
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Data collection sheet
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Materials to simulate grains of pollen: pepper, sea salt, jello crystals
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Calculators
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Journals
Time
This activity may take one to two class periods.
Procedure
1. Brainstorm with your group on how to construct a cubic meter from
the partial box. Use the dowels or straws, tape, and meter sticks
to complete a box that is one meter by one meter by one meter.
2. Use your data collection sheet for pollen count, choose a count.
Using the tiny particles you have been supplied, attempt to estimate this
number. Sprinkle the particles in the cubic meter box.
3. What do you observe? Is there a lot or a little amount of
particles? What would it look like if the particles were floating
in the air? Record your observations and your ideas in your journal.
4. Estimate the number of cubic meters in your classroom. Estimate
the number of grains per cubic meter for the air in your classroom.
Record your estimates in your journal.
5. Use a meter stick to measure the length, width, and height of the
classroom. Use your calculator and the formula, V=lwh to calculate
the volume of the classroom Use your calculator to calculate the
grains of pollen per cubic meter for the air in your classroom. Compare
your calculations with your estimates. Explain your findings.
6. Make predictions for the air quality of your classroom using this
pollen count. Plan to report to the class your findings for a class
discussion.
The following are links to web sites with other math activities:
"Adventures
in Statistics"
A preprint of a paper by teachers Tom Scavo and Byron Petraroja to
appear in "Teaching Children Mathematics," which describes a mathematics
project involving fifth grade students and the area of classrooms, including
measurement, graphing, computation, data analysis, and presentation of
results.
Exploring
Data
Pages for finding and displaying data sets, designed to support workshops
on statistics given by the Math Forum for the Urban Systemic Initiative.
Included are: links by level to relevant statistics Standards; lesson plans
for collecting, analyzing, and/or displaying data; sources of data sets,
general information, courses, and statistics software on the Web; and an
"Oceans of Data" page with a data set (diving records) to download, instructions
for making a ClarisWorks or Excel graph, suggested questions for discussion,
and related 'ocean links' (NOAA, SeaWifs, tide tables)
Min-Max Temperatures
Use predicted minimum and maximum temperatures for various cities throughout
the U.S. to calculate averages.
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