GeoInquiries

• 1- Rates and Proportions: A Lost Beach

  Determine the rate of coastal erosion by estimating changes in historical aerial photos.

• 2- D = R x T

  Use an aerial photograph to determine the distance around a track, and then calculate rate and time for each lap and the race as a whole.

• 3- Linear Rate of Change: Steady Growth

  While population growth is often associated with exponential functions, this activity explores a linear model for one Michigan county.

• 4- How Much Rain?

  Measure the distance between two rain gauges to estimate how much precipitation an intervening town receives by deriving a linear function.

• 5- Rate of Population Change

  Investigate rates of population growth and decline with US Census data.

• 6- Distance and Midpoint

  Site a water tower shared by two towns at the midpoint and determine the costs involved using the Pythagorean theorem.

• 7- The Coordinate Plane

  Points on the surface of the earth can be plotted using a coordinate system made from lines of longitude and latitude.

• 8- Euclidean vs. Non-Euclidean

  Compare flat geometry based on figures on a plane (Euclidean) with spherical geometry based on figures on a curved surface (non-Euclidean).

• 9- Area and Perimeter at the Mall

  Use an aerial photograph to determine the perimeter and area of the mall; consider other shape permutations.

• 10- Measuring Crop Circles

  Use remotely sensed data to estimate and measure the area of (center-pivot irrigated) crop circles.

• 11- Area of Complex Figures

  Find the area of a complex figure by dividing it into simpler shapes, such as rectangles, squares, triangles, and trapezoids.

• 12- Similar Triangles

  By creating similar triangles, it is possible to find the distance across a river using indirect measurements.

• 13- Perpendicular Bisectors

  Using the location of all Life Flight hospitals in a state, draw boundaries between Life Flight regions to inform first responders.

• 14- Centers of Triangles

  Find the circumcenter of a triangle: the point equidistant to each vertex where the perpendicular bisectors of a triangle’s sides intersect.

• 15- Volume of Pyramids

  Use an aerial photograph to determine the volume of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

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