The Iditarod dog sled race begins officially in Anchorage, Alaska on March 7th and then restarts in Fairbanks two days later. There is so much mathematics in this race that our activity feels totally insufficient. Mushers and their dog teams travel by day and night and, in their quest to win, have very little time to rest. But, perhaps the activity will raise interest and encourage students to find out more and bring their research to class.
We've dealt with reading charts, calculating speed, calculating present value, and considering daylight hours of travel.
But, who will win? With how many dogs left? After how many days? Through what conditions? Through what mishaps and challenges? The list goes on ...
The Activity: Iditarod2015.pdf
For members we have an editable Word doc and solutions.
Iditarod2015.docx Iditarod2015-solutions.pdf
CCSS: 5.OA, 5.NF.B, 6.RP, 7.RP, 7.NS