Byram Hills Central School District

This information has been taken directly from the Accelerate U - Standards and Resource Guides (with approval) from the K-12 Education, NEW YORK STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT site. No information in this document has been changed.

Learning Standards for Mathematics, Science, and Technology at Three Levels

Standard 7 - Interdisciplinary Problem Solving - Commencement

Students will apply the knowledge and thinking skills of mathematics, science, and technology to address real-life problems and make informed decisions.

Strategies

2. Solving interdisciplinary problems involves a variety of skills and strategies, including effective work habits; gathering and processing information; generating and analyzing ideas; realizing ideas; making connections among the common themes of mathematics, science, and technology; and presenting results.

Students participate in an extended, culminating mathematics, science, and technology project.
The project would require students to:

     work effectively
     gather and process information
     generate and analyze ideas
     observe common themes
     realize ideas
     present results

This is evident, for example, when students, addressing the issue of emergency preparedness in an interdisciplinary science/technology/society project:

     are given a scenario-survivors from a disaster are stranded on a mountaintop in the high peaks of the Adirondacks they are challenged to design a portable shelter that could be heated by the body heat of five survivors to a life sustaining temperature, given an outside temperature of 20o F. Since the shelter would be dropped to survivors by an aircraft, it must be capable of withstanding the impact. Students determine the kinds of data to be collected, for example, snowfall during certain months, average wind velocity, R value of insulating materials, etc. To conduct their research, students gather and analyze information from research data bases, national libraries, and electronic communication networks, including the Internet.
     design and construct scale models or full-sized shelters based on engineering design criteria including wind load, snow load, and insulating properties of materials. Heat flow calculations are done to determine how body heat could be used to heat the shelter.
     Students evaluate the trade-offs that they make to arrive at the best solution; for example, in order to keep the temperature at 20 degrees F., the shelter may have to be small, and survivors would be very uncomfortable. Another component of the project is assembly instructions-designed so that speakers of any language could quickly install the structure
     on site.
     prepare a multimedia presentation about their project and present it to the school's ski club.