Who wants Pi?

Day 1: (around campus) Students are split into groups of 3. Each group is given a caliper to measure diameter, a distance wheel and cloth measuring tape to measure circumference, a data recording sheet, and a Flip UltraHD camera. They will be given 3 mandatory objects to measure (flagpole, custodian cart steering wheel, and the school seal on the office. They will choose 7 other items to measure as well. The members of the group will switch jobs at each new item they measure. The jobs are statistician (the person recording the data), historian (the person running the Flip UltraHD camera), and the surveyor (the person conducting the measurements).

Day 2: (in classroom) Flip UltraHD cameras will be on tripod to tape this section. Students work together with calculators to find the ratio between the circumference and diameter of the objects they measure (this is the ration for Pi). Once calculations are done, they will identify which ratios came close to pi (22/7 or 3.14). They will be asked to identify which items did not result in a ratio close to pi and discuss why there data was wrong (i.e. inaccurate measurements, items were not perfect circles, etc). The group will then tape a 2 to 3 minute summary of their activities.

Day 3: (in computer lab) Students will edit their videos (to be saved on flash drives) on the computer lab computers. Final video must be between 5 and 7 minutes including the following elements: Introduction of team members and synopsis of activity, clips of the 3 required measurements and 3 of the other objects they chose (2 clips taped by each member must be shown), 3 clips of the group performing their calculations on day 2 (one from each member), and finally, their summary video from day 2.

Day 4: All videos will be shown in class. Students will critique each video. Peer review will constitute 25% of final grade, 25% will be from group self evaluations, and 50% from Teacher evaluation.