It wouldn’t do any harm to drive 60 km/h in a city instead of 50 km/h would it?
In most European countries, a fifth all of two-car accidents are caused by an unsuitable safety distance between the two cars. Failing to keep distance is especially dangerous on high-speed and heavy-traffic roads where the risks of pile-up accidents are high. This series of student centred activities engages groups of students to apply modelling tools in relation to braking distances of cars. It will allow them to construct their own rules of thumbs in relation to driving with a safe distance.
How much can you drink and be able to legally drive?
A significant amount of traffic accidents are related to one or more of the people involved having consumed alcohol. This series of student centred activities engages groups of students to use and individualise a mathematical model of alcohol degradation. Students answer the question title by constructing a rule of thumb about how much alcohol they (as individuals) can drink before driving, and how long they must wait before driving. They can use this rule as a guide in situations in which they are in doubt whether they can legally drive. And maybe they can avoid being involved in accidents.
Stop having sex – the world is overpopulated!
During the last 200 years the world population has been sextupled and the threat of overpopulation – the situation in which a domestic area can no longer support all individuals - is faced by certain parts of the world.
This series of student centred activities engages groups of students to apply mathematical modelling tools in exploring the difficult social, political and ethical question of whether overpopulation is a threat, and if so, what to do about it. The students are introduced to the different tropes of mathematical models and modelling tools. The series assumes a very basic familiarity with exponential functions, but can also be used as an introduction of the concept of exponential growth.
Would you have dropped the nuclear bomb?
In this activity students will play a role play about the Manhattan project. They will be placed in groups in which each of them play a particular real historical person who was somehow involved with the development of the first nuclear bomb. The task of the group is to discuss various issues concerning the war between Japan and USA in the 1940s, and the usage of the nuclear bomb. These discussions must lead to the group giving advice to President Truman on whether or not to drop the nuclear bomb.
What is a fair insurance premium?
Up until now most insurance companies have had only national statistics at their disposal when determining the yearly insurance premium (the amount the consumer has to pay, in order for his or her car to be insured). But is this a fair way to determine the yearly premium? What about those young people who actually are good drivers? GPS technology now makes it possible for insurance companies to follow the individual driving habits of a driver. How can this technology be harnessed to calculate a fair insurance premium?
Can you plan an ideal Ad campaign for Rihanna’s new single?
This series of student centred activities engages groups of students to apply modelling tools in relation to a fictive AD campaign for a songstress.
SIXTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME SCIENCE AND SOCIETY PRIORITY Science education and careers 2005 COORDINATION ACTION Contract no 042922