Jacki Stranathan

slm 521

 

Racing the Iditarod

A Webquest for 6th Grade (math)

 

Designed by

 

Jacki Stranathan

Mnjstran@xecu.net

 

Introduction

 

The Iditarod race is a grueling 1, 100 mile race through Blinding snow, fierce winds, and below freezing temperatures.  It is a trail Sled Dog race from Anchorage to Nome.  It owes it’s origin to the famed diphtheria-serum run of 1925, when Leonhard Seppala and other mushers teamed to get medicine across Interior Alaska from the railroad and river port town of Nenan to the stricken Bering Sea town of Nome in western Alaska.  Your quest is two fold:  to research and state what your feelings are with respect if this sport is cruel to the sled dogs, and to use statistical analysis to determine the average time the race took.

 

Task

 

At the the writing of this task there are only 240 days left to Iditarod 2004 but if you go to www.iditarod.com you will see a minute by minute counter until the next race.  If you are a winter sport lover, this is the truly the ultimate winter sport.  For this webquest you must:

·              Write a short background research on the Iditarod,

·              Read an article about sled dogs and determine your stand on if this sport is cruel to sled dogs,

·              Determine the average time it takes to cross the finish line by look at the past Iditarod race winners.

So are you up for the Challenge? Let’s begin.

 

The Process

 

1.  A great place to start is to gain some background information on the Iditarod itself.  Please read through the following web site and write a short summary of the History of this amazing race.

http://rims.k12.ca.us/iditarod/about/history.html

 

 

2.   The sled dogs used in this race go through some very rigorous training and the race is very hard on the animals.  Please read through this article and respond to it giving reasons why you agree or disagree with this author’s point of view.

        http://www.sunhusky.com/Facts

 

3.  Times for the winners vary depending on the condition of the mushers, sled dogs, and old man weather.  Take a look at the winning times and determine the mean (average) time it took for the winner to cross the finish line.  To get a feeling of the distance take a look at the maps.  Note the route varies from year to year.  There is a northern route and a southern route.  The following web sites will give you some guidance into finding the mean time.

 

Winning times:

 http://www.alaskan.com/iditarod/old/prev_win.html

 

Resources for how to find the mean time:

http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/malcz/ExpFit/THE_MEAN.html

Don’t forget you are looking at different units i.e.; days, hours, minutes, and fraction of a minute.

 

The Evaluation

Your evaluation of this assignment will use the following rubric.  It will check for clear understanding of race.  It will check for conceptual understanding of mean. Finally it will check that your answer is complete and answers all three parts to the web quest.

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/view_rubric.php3?id=892848

 

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Iditarod race is different from any other race.  It relies on humans and sled dogs to work together to accomplish an amazing feat!  To find more information on this race go to www.iditarod.com.  You will find all you need to know, even how long it is until the next race.  This site is updated constantly, second by second.  So on your Mark! Get set! Go!

 

Resources   

In addition to the cites listed above I also used:

Freedman, Lew. Iditarod Classics. Fairbanks: Epicenter Press, 2002.