Chapter 30: Temperature Conversion: Situation 24 From the MACMTL–CPTM Situations Project
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Published:2015
Glendon Blume, Heather Johnson, Maureen Grady, Svetlana Konnova, M. Kathleen Heid, 2015. "Temperature Conversion: Situation 24 From the MACMTL–CPTM Situations Project", Mathematical Understanding for Secondary Teaching: A Framework and Classroom-Based Situations, M. Kathleen Heid, Patricia S. Wilson, Glendon W. Blume
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During a high school Algebra 1 class, students were given the task of producing a formula that would convert Celsius temperatures to Fahrenheit temperatures, given that 0º on the Celsius scale is the temperature at which water freezes and 100º on the Celsius scale is the temperature at which water boils, and given that 32º on the Fahrenheit scale is the temperature at which water freezes and 212º on the Fahrenheit scale is the temperature at which water boils.
The rationale for the task was that if one encounters a relatively unfamiliar Celsius temperature, one could use this formula to convert to an equivalent Fahrenheit temperature that might be more familiar to persons in the United States.
