Container Project Questions

I am very impressed by the quality of your questions. Great Work!!

Q1. How many people will be on a team?
A1. Each team has 4 members

Q2. How long does it take to make a container?
A2. You may begin work on the container this week-end. The time to build the container depends upon your design.

Q3. What would be the cost?
A3. Your team tracks and determines the cost of the container.

Q4. How would you find the volume of a sphere? of our container?
A4. The volume of a sphere is-----V=4/3(pi)(radius squared). Volume formulas for other geometric shapes will be provided.

Q5. Is there more than one way to make the container?
A5. Yes. Since most of the actual construction takes place in teams outside of the classroom, I encourage groups to be creative in their materials. Several teams have used paper mache, old cereal boxes, poster board, scrap cardboard, fiberglass, and foam core board to create their containers. There is some shrinkage that occurs when paper mache and fiberglass containers dry. The containers must have a set volume so things like paper bags, nets, etc. won't work for this project.
Your team needs to make the container in a very attractive and creative way as to entice a customer into noticing it and eventually buying it. The container cannot be rectangular, square box (prism), individual spheres or a cylindrical tube (they roll off the shelves easily). One container must contain all six spheres at the same time. If your container has multiple levels of spheres (instead of the spheres being all tangent to one plane--think of the first aide container from the video) you can earn some extra design points. The materials that you use to create the container are to be chosen by your marketing team.

Q6. How many spheres does our container hold?
A6. It will be designed to hold 6 spheres

Q7. When is it due?
A7. Everything is due on December 21. Video presentations will be made on 12/21/07.

Q8. Is this a class or group project?
A8. This is a group project.

Q9. Will our group film a 60 second commercial?
A9. Yes

Q10. Will we have a written report?
A10. Yes, the specifics for this will be passed out in class on Thursday 12/13/07.
I can say this--When the container is complete, your team is to include a proposal to the boss and to other marketing teams to convince them that your container is the best for the product in terms of 1) package efficiency (calculated by finding the ratio of the volumes of the 6 spheres to the volume of the container) , 2) geometry to show how the efficiency was calculated, 3) geometry used to construct the container, 4) justification of any additional expense that you are expecting either the manufacturer or your firm to incur - make sure to include the cost of your container and any add-ons!, 5) the proposed selling price of each container of product with the profit (markup divided by cost), and 6) why your design should be chosen - why it should do well in the market (a survey of prospective customers may be helpful here!). The boss expects proper English and complete sentences along with neat and detailed drawings and graphs in your proposal. It needs to be typed or word-processed (since he supplies them in your office) before it is submitted with your finished product.

Q11. What is the purpose of the project?
A11. Great question! The Design a Deluxe Container project encourages both written and oral communication using terminology from geometry. It allows you and yout team to creatively design and figure the volumes of standard and non-standard solids. It ties geometry to business as it studies package efficiency, marketing strategies, product costs, and profit.

CSO's addressed by the project:
MA.O.G.3.16
derive and justify formulas for area, perimeter, surface area, and volume using nets and apply them to solve real-world problems.

MA.O.G.3.21
approximate the area of irregularly shaped regions based on the approximations and the attributes of the related region, develop a formula for finding the area of irregularly shaped regions. Plan, organize and present results by justifying conclusions.

21C.O.9-12.2.LS.3
Student engages in a problem solving process by formulating questions and applying complex strategies in order to independently solve problems.

21C.O.9-12.2.LS.4
Student visualizes the connection between seemingly unrelated ideas and independently produces solutions that are fresh, unique, original and well developed. Student shows capacity for originality, concentration, commitment to completion, and persistence to develop unique and cogent products.

21C.O.9-12.1.LS.2
Student analyzes and interprets visuals and recognizes the impact digital media influences (e.g. design, technique, and rate of speed) have on audiences. The student’s visual products reflect a sophisticated understanding of subject, digital media and design techniques.

21C.O.9-12.1.LS.3
Student creates information using advanced skills of analysis, synthesis and evaluation and shares this information through a variety of oral, written and multimedia communications that target academic, professional and technical audiences and purposes.

21C.O.9-12.1.TT.4
Student uses audio, video, pictures, clip art, moviemaker programs, webpage design software, electronic documents and other files to collaborate for the creation of electronic products that inform multiple audiences both inside and outside the school environment.

21C.O.9-12.1.TT.6
Student uses advanced features and utilities of spreadsheet software, (e.g., formulas, filters, pivot tables, pivot charts, macros, conditional formatting), to perform calculations and to organize, analyze and report data.

As you see we have a mix of geometry, 21st Century Skills and Technology Tools being addressed through this project!

Q12. What is the point value for the project?

A12. Project Point Value--

The container = 100 points

The video = 100 points

The report = 100 points

Online Team Discussions = 50 points

Intel Visual Thinking Activity = 50 points

Please post additional questions regarding the project as a comment to this post.