Tr@sh-Got a Problem?

Solve Real World Math Problems related to Waste

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Tim Whitley and Lisa Livelybrooks take you by video to various schools and businesses in Eugene, Oregon to look at real world math problems for students to solve. Links to the seven videos follow with pdf links to the student worksheets and answer keys.

 

Got a Problem? 1: Volume of a Dumpster @ Bailey Hill (YouTube)

Can you figure out the volume of the dumpster using measurements in feet and then convert it from cubic feet to cubic yards?

Got a Problem? Worksheet 1

Got a Problem? Worksheet 1 Answers

 

Got a Problem? 2: Percentages @ Roosevelt Middle School (YouTube)

What would a 10% decrease in solid waste mean to Roosevelt Middle School? Watch the Green Class do their waste reduction rounds and find ways that they could cut back on solid waste.

Got a Problem? Worksheet 2

Got a Problem? Worksheet 2 Answers

 

Got a Problem? 3: Pie Charts @ Adams Elementary (YouTube)

What is being thrown away and what is being recycled at Adams? Watch the Green Team sort and weigh the trash to measure its volume to see what they are doing right and how they can improve.  Then use the figures to populate pie charts.

Got a Problem? Worksheet 3

Got a Problem? Worksheet 3 Answers

 

Got a Problem? 4: Electromagnet Challenge @ Pacific Recycling Inc. (YouTube)

Watch a massive electromagnet at Pacific Recycling work with huge pieces of metal and get some questions answered before trying to use the Electromagnet Engineering Kit to build an electromagnet that will lift a matchbox car.

**No worksheet available for this video.

 

Got a Problem? 5: Making Sense of Big Numbers @ MECCA (YouTube)

Take a tour of Materials-Exchange and find out how students and teachers can benefit while reducing our solid waste. Then play with some of the big numbers that you hear and make them more meaningful by comparing them to blue whales or school buses.

Got a Problem? Worksheet 5

Got a Problem? Worksheet 5 Answers

 

Got a Problem? 6: Fractions @ César Chávez Elementary (YouTube)

Follow the Green Team as they compost the classroom snack scraps for Love Food Not Waste. Use estimated fractions of how full each classroom bucket is to figure out how much volume is being composted.

Got a Problem? Worksheet 6

Got a Problem? Worksheet 6 Answers

 

Got a Problem? 7: Waste Sort Addition, Subtraction and Bar Graphing @ River Road Elementary (YouTube)

Join the BEST after school kids and Lane Community College math students as they do a one-day trash sort to find out what is being thrown away BEFORE they start composting with Love Food Not Waste. Work with the figures they collect to build a bar graph to help understand the volumes and weights of each sorted category. This will help us understand what is being thrown away and what could be recycled or composted instead.

Got a Problem? Worksheet 7

Got a Problem? Worksheet 7 Answers