Teaching Sequence

5 minutes	Introduction and distribution of materials
35 minutes	Working time
20 minutes	Checking calculations and correcting

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

Step 1.

Ask students to view the Student Worksheet and access the Power maths - resource sheet (also available on the Student Worksheet). Set students to work on the tasks. Explain to students that this activity is designed to test their knowledge and skills and that they should work independently on this task.

Step 2.

Set 35 minutes for students to complete the Student Worksheet.

Step 3.

Have students exchange answers with a partner and check their partner’s answers with their calculator, correcting any errors. If there is time, ask the partners to discuss the errors they made in common and consider why this may be so.

Differentiated activities

Provisions for Learning Support: Students who require additional learning support could be assisted by having working scaffolds provided, including hints on the type of operation required to obtain the answer for each question.

Extension activity: Students who finish the activity early can be assigned the task of moving around the class to collate information about which activities students found the most challenging. Have these students report to the class what they found out.

Homework

Students could invent their own mathematical problem, expressed in sentence form, using the figures provided on the Resource Sheet. They could then provide a model answer to the problem and share it with the class in a subsequent lesson.

Answers

1. The combined generating capacity:

Paloona Power Station 30 MW
Parangana mini-hydro .75 MW
Poatina Power Station 300MW

30 MW + .75 MW + 300MW = 330.75MW

2. To convert Megawatts to horsepower, firstly multiply by a million so the units is watts. Then divide by the constant 746 (by definition, the horsepower is equal to exactly 746 W).

330.75 MW x 1 000 000 = 330750000.0
330750000.0/ 746 = 443364.6 hp

3. Bastyan Power Station 81 MW - Lake Echo Power Station 32 MW = 49 MW less.

4. Rowallan Power Station, Tods Corner Power Station, Parangana mini-hydro.

5. 431.25 MW. This was calculated by subtracting the lowest output station (Parangana mini-hydro) from the highest output station (Gordon Dam Power Station).

6. The median power output is 88.79MW.

7. Gordon Dam Power Station; 579,000 hp.

8. a) 2130.95 MW b) 2130950000 W c) 2856501.3 hp

9. 2130.95 MW / 24 = 88.79 MW

10. Mackintosh and Bastyan generate 81 MW each. This is probably due to these stations having similar designs.

Power Maths

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