Saturday, August 4, 2007

Night Preps

By: Patrick Messac and Rachel Gartner (Washington University in St. Louis '07)

Math:
Practice Problem #1
Take two and a half hours of available study time per day, a single light bulb for 200 students, no answer keys, and a severe shortage of usable textbooks and divide it all by the 11 subjects that each student is required to take every semester.
Solution?

Business:
Practice Problem #2
Develop a method to keep students in school:
A fifteen-year-old student orphaned by HIV/AIDS with no means of income has to pay the mandatory 30,300ksh/year to attend secondary school?
Solution?

Biology:
Practice Problem #3
How much energy will a student have at the beginning of a 7pm night study period if:
She wakes up at 5:30 in the morning, sweeps the courtyard, goes to morning meeting, attends class for 7 hours, enjoys one hour of free time, walks 1 mile to the lake to wash her clothes, dishes, and body, and then carries 5 liters of water back on her head?
Solution?

Chemistry:
Practice Problem #4
What are the products of this reaction?
9 under-qualified, underpaid teachers lacking motivation + a learning compound with no electricity, no running water, and an absence of creative learning tools or innovative methods of teaching + 266 students eager to learn
Solution?

History:
Practice Problem #5
Re-write this history:
In 18 years no girl from Muhuru has gone on to university…

Solution: WISER

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