#MakeOverMonday ... Put on the Brakes!

Welcome to this week's MakeOverMonday challenge!  Our basic goal is to revise the posted textbook problem to make it better ... more worthwhile, more accessible, more engaging!  This week students are invited to take on the role of an accident investigator!

The problem we are revising this week is looks like this ...

I don't like this problem.  The formula doesn't match any that I could find online.  It does not take into account road conditions or adjusted drag factors.  In the problem there is a formula, a table, and a graph.  That leaves little for students to do or to interpret.

In my revision I would love to invite a local police investigator to share his work with our class.  Hopefully the officer would share video demonstrating a crash and how fault is determined.  If that isn't possible, there are some youtube videos that illustrate the main idea of this problem.

I chose to use just the graph and create a short activity for analyzing the graph. Analyzing graphs gets at a number of Common Core State Mathematical Practices such as making sense of problems, reasoning abstractly, constructing viable arguments, and modeling with mathematics. Analyzing graphs also addresses two Common Core State Standards.

• CCSS.Math.Content.HSF-IF.B.4 For a function that models a relationship between two quantities, interpret key features of graphs and tables in terms of the quantities, and sketch graphs showing key features given a verbal description of the relationship. 
• CCSS.Math.Content.HSF-IF.B.5 Relate the domain of a function to its graph and, where applicable, to the quantitative relationship it describes. 

Here is the activity ... I'd love to hear your suggestions!

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