Storyboard for a SmartGraphs Activity: An Example
Information on the four pages that follow this one describes a SmartGraphs activity called
Radioactive Decay. The reason for describing the Radioactive Decay activity in detail is to
demonstrate one effective way to “storyboard” an activity on paper in sufficient detail that the
authoring system can later be used to create that activity, with a minimum of further elaboration
needed to accurately and unambiguously create an activity to implement with the SmartGraphs
authoring system and then the runtime software.
We strongly encourage new activity designers to limit activities they submit to 8 pages because
longer activities can be difficult for teachers and students to complete in a single class period.
ACTIVITY NAME: Radioactive Decay
URL for this existing activity is: http://smartgraphsauthoring.concord.org/activities/98-radioactive-decay/student_preview
Page 1
Some elements, like uranium and radium, are
radioactive. These elements are naturally
unstable.
The nucleus of some of the atoms in these
elements loses energy by emitting particles. In
the process of emitting particles and losing
energy, the nucleus of the original atom is
transformed into the nucleus of a different
element.
The half-life of a radioactive substance is the
amount of time it takes for half of the original
quantity to decay into a different substance.
This pane is not used on this page. The image
fills the whole right side of this page.
NOTES: This page has only two panes.
SmartGraphs is permitted to use this image because it was published in Wikipedia under a
Creative Commons license. All images must be legal to use, as is this one. Images are placed into
a SmartGraphs activity by using their URL. The URL for this image is
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/Alpha_Decay.svg/2000pxAlpha_Decay.svg.png
Page 2
Here is a graph and a table showing the decay
of a particular isotope over 100 years.
What is the half-life of this isotope, rounded to
the nearest whole number?
This pane is a graph with scatterplot data
showing the amount (percent) of the substance
left each year from 0 to 100 years.
The axes are labeled Percent Remaining (yaxis, no units) and Time (x-axis, in years). The
scale on the y-axis for ranges from 0 to 100
percent. The scale for time on the x-axis also
ranges from 0 to 100 (years).
Data for this scatterplot can be generated in
an Excel spreadsheet using the formula for
radioactive decay. In this case, the remaining
amount each year equals e (2.718281) to the
power (-.01*year), where year ranges from 0
to 100.
This pane shows a table of x- and y-values that
includes the same data as the graph pane
above.
The correct answer to the question is 69.
• If the student is correct, respond with: Yes, that is correct!
• Hint 1 (if incorrect) is: Look at the table.
• Hint 2 (if still incorrect) is: Look at where this line intersects the y-axis. What does the
number on the y-axis represent? What value of x corresponds to this value of y? [A line
appears from the point at 69 years to the y-axis.]
• If the student finally does not get the correct answer, the software responds: It is 69 years.
[A circle appears around the point at 69 years, plus lines are drawn from that point to the
x-axis and to the y-axis.]
Page 3
Which substance is represented in the graph?
Pick the correct isotope.
O
O
O
O
Show the same graph here as on page 2.
titanium-44 (63 years)
uranium-232 (68.9 years)
plutonium-238 (87.7 years)
carbon-14 (5,715 years)
Show the same table here as on page 2.
NOTES:
• If the student is correct, respond with: Yes, that is correct. The half-life of uranium-232 is
68.9 years.
• Hint 1 (if student is incorrect) is: Remember the half-life of the isotope.
• If the student does not get the correct answer on the second try, the software responds:
The correct element is uranium-232.
Page 4
Here is what uranium looks like.
The End.
Include only a single pane on the right side,
that is, the image fills the entire right side of
this page of the activity.
NOTES: This image also comes from Wikipedia and is available to use under a Creative
Commons license. The URL for the image (which is needed to put the image into the activity) is:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/HEUraniumC.jpg
This is the last page of the Radioactive Decay activity.