Activity Overview
In "Protest," Charlie uses social network analysis to try to identify modern day criminals by tracing them through past social relationships. Students might wonder how mathematics could possibly be useful in the context of social relationships.
This activity exposes students to a simple social problem, and illustrates how the branch of combinatorics known as graph theory can be used to solve it.
Before the Activity
Download the attached PDF and look over the Teacher Page.
During the Activity
Discuss the materials from the Student Page with your class.
After the Activity
Encourage students to explore web sites and questions from the Extensions page.