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Laser Disks The laser disk series entitled "The Adventures of Jasper Woodbury" are an excellent problem solving activity. Although the disks are expensive ($300?) and you need a laser disk player, they will last a long time and are well worth the money. A story ("The Journey to Cedar Creek") is played on the laser disk player. There are "real world" problems that Jasper has to solve in going to buy a boat up the river. All kinds of data are given in this 15 minute "story" and the students have to sort out what is important and what is not important. Students are challenged to answer two questions at the end of the video: what time does he have to leave and will he have enough fuel to get home? My students get one week to write up a report using all the necessary math facts. Another story ("The Big Splash") involves a school fund raising project. A student has to calculate how much profit the school will make by having a dunking booth at the school fair. Teachers will be dunked, so students will buy tickets (of course), but the student has to figure out what is the best price and figure out all the details (pool, water, etc.) for the project.. The neat part about the laser is that you can go to any scene on the disk. A bar code scanner will take you to any particular scene to give you a chance to see the clues for solving the problem.
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