Prior to the race, each student reviews the list of competitors and selects two mushers to track. The students will maintain a journal of their mushers' progress throughout the race. Monitoring the Mushers At the Iditarod, judges in shacks out on the tundra use laptop computers to transmit data for Web updates about every 15 minutes. During the race students follow the progress of their two mushers using these Web reports. Students must develop written explanations for sudden changes in their racers' positions by studying course terrain on a topographical map, examining weather conditions using the Internet, and reading press releases from the race committee.
Students turn in their logs when their racers complete the course.
Most students are adept enough with computers that they can also cut and paste photos of the mushers from the newspaper's Web site into their logs. The Iditarod project allows my students to use technology, geography, meteorology, statistics, and writing skills to create an integrated project where the mathematics component is genuine. If elevations aren't available from the FAA Web site, we approximate by examining the contours of topographical maps of Alaska. Last year, two high schools in Alaska sent their own small teams of students and teachers to follow the racers by snowmobile. They posted their diaries about their trail experiences on their school Web sites, and my own students were able to follow these journals as well.