Text alternative for “Get the Omitonians to School”

About Omitonia

A new school has just been built in the town of Omitonia. The town has never had its own school, so everyone is excited about it. However, young Omitonians don’t have a way to get there. They need a path that connects their homes to the school.

Your Task

Figure out a good way to construct a path for the young Omitonians to get to school, based on the following five conditions:

  1. The path needs to be built in five sections.
  2. You can only use the three construction materials that are available in Omitonia: sand, pebbles, and wood.
  3. Each material has a different price (the prices are listed below). The more expensive the material, the more efficient it is for Omitonians to travel on.
  4. You have budget of 60 coins.
  5. You need to make the path effective enough to get the Omitonians to school in 25 minutes or less.

Price of Construction Materials

The prices are as follows:

  • Sand: 10 coins per section
  • Pebbles: 15 coins per section
  • Wood: 20 coins per section

You don’t have enough coins to construct the entire path out of the most expensive material, so you will need to make some compromises. Use the “Plan Your Path” tool below to determine what materials you should use for each section of the path.

Plan Your Path

Use the grid below to plan your path. Choose a material for each of the five sections, then select Calculate. You will find out how much the path costs and how much time it takes for the young Omitonians to travel to school using that path.

Construction Material Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5
Sand (10 coins)
Pebbles (15 coins)
Wood (20 coins)


Results

Based on the materials you’ve chosen, this is how much the path will cost and how much time it will take for the Omitonians to get to school:

Cost: coins

Time: minutes

If the total cost is less than 60 coins and the total time is 25 minutes or less, then you’ve found a good combination of materials to construct the path.

If the total cost exceeds 60 coins, or the time exceeds 25 minutes, try again. Keep in mind: the more expensive the material, the more efficient it is for Omitonians to travel on.

Conclusion

By going through this exercise you experienced a simple version of defining a problem, designing a solution, and optimizing a design. Throughout that process you had to consider the criteria and constraints for the solution.

Figuring out the right solution to a problem often takes trial and error, but the Actions of Innovation support that work.