Antarctic temperatures

Antarctic temperatures

Pencil and paperOnline interactive
Overview
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Marking Student Responses
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Further Resources
This task is about linear equations that show change in temperature.
scott base antarctica
 
Temperatures at Scott Base are measured at 6:00 a.m. in the morning, and 6:00 p.m. in the evening.
One Wednesday evening the temperature was –25°C. It had risen 13°C since the morning.

Question 2Change answer

a)  This equation shows the temperature change on that Wednesday.
 
t + 13 = – 25
     i) What does t represent in the equation above? 
     ii) What is the value of t? °C

Question 2Change answer

b) This equation describes the change in temperature from that Wednesday evening to the following Thursday morning.
 
 –25 + x = –16
     i)  What was the temperature on Thursday morning? °C
     ii) By how much did the temperature change overnight? °C
Task administration: 
This task can be completed with pencil and paper or online.
Copyright: 

Picture Source: www.nsf.gov (Sep 2004) | Public domain
Level:
5
Curriculum info: 
Maths, Number and Algebra, Equations and expressions
Keywords: 
linear equations, pronumerals
Description of task: 
Students identify parts of algebraic equations and use the equations to calculate temperatures in the Antarctic at different times of the day.
Learning Progression Frameworks
This resource can provide evidence of learning associated with
Using symbols and expressions to think mathematically, sets 6-7
within the Mathematics Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 
   Y10 (09/1998)
a) i)

ii)

 The temperature on Wednesday morning/morning 
temperature/temperature at 6.00 am.
[Do not accept just "temperature".]

-38

 difficult

easy

b)

i)

ii)

-16

9

moderate

moderate

 

Diagnostic and formative information: 

 

Student response

Likely calculation

Likely reason

a) ii)
     ii)

12
⁻12

25 – 13
13 – 25

 

b) i)
     i)

⁻9
9

⁻25 – (⁻16)
⁻16 – (⁻25)

Wrong interpretation of equation