For this part of the game, she had to determine the following:
- Distance to be traveled
- Speed of travel
- Duration of rest/stops
- Number of stops
- Total hours for journey, considering distance, speed, and stops
Initially, we discussed the equivalent between 8kmh and 8mph, then discussed the idea of figuring out how long it would take to travel the distance. Her immediate response is quoted on the page. I concurred that her solution to solve would be effective and was reasonable, and then offered a faster method – division.
She is still exploring the relationship between multiplication and division, and with this activity, discovered the calculator and its purpose. She’s played with a calc before, but today (and with this activity) she discovered the true value of this little invention. She went on to input many different calculations to experiment with, asked if only my phone had such a cool thing (a calculator), and then when she declared she wanted to do calculations into the trillions and beyond, we discussed scientific calcs and that we could put something conducive onto her tablet.
Once we calculated the total amount of hours needed to travel the distance, at the given average speed, the next part of the game required she include rest stops. She calculated the amount of rest stops and argued the need for each being 9 hours, “That’s a really long time to stop to pee”, she expressed.
When we determined the rest stops would add another 27 hours to already necessary 25 for travel/speed to the overall journey, she got stuck. She tried to add 3 first to the 25, then 9, and finally she conceded adding 27 to the 25, but without actual comprehension of why. She got her correct answer so she could progress in the game, but we will revisit the multi-level computations necessary to reach that final sum at a later date/another activity (probably an actual journey/calculation with us in the car and going somewhere).
