Classroom Activities
Before I begin the lessons with the students, there are a few prerequisites that I would be sure to cover to be confident that my students understand the topics. Defining a proportion as two ratios set equal to each other would be the first idea that I go over with them. Also, I would be sure that my students know how to cross multiply to solve a proportion. Some of this would have been covered earlier in the year or the previous year for most of my students. I would spend some time reviewing and making sure that they felt comfortable with the topics.
Prior to the first lesson, the students will be introduced to what a unit rate is. They will be able to correctly set them up and solve them focusing on the units that are attached with the numbers as I have explained in my strategies above.
Lesson 1
Objective
Students will be able to set up and solve proportions. They will also be able to solve word problems based on unit rates.
Warm-up
"Your mom needs to go to the grocery store and she asks you to go shopping with her. When you get to the store, you really want cereal but you are having trouble figuring out what kind to get, you cannot decide between the Fruity O's and the Circles of Fruit. Your mom told you that you need to get the cheapest cereal per ounce. The problem is the boxes are 12 and 16 ounces. Describe, without using numbers, how you would figure out what cereal was cheaper per ounce."
Procedure
To be sure students had a strong understanding of unit rates; I would do an activity with them based on the warm-up. There would be eight to ten stations set up with different products found in a grocery store such as paper towels, cereal, canned soups, toilet paper, etc.
Each station would have two similar products such as a 12 ounce box of name brand cereal and a 20 ounce box of generic brand cereal. I would give the students the price of each of the boxes of cereal. The students would then work in groups to see which one was the better buy. They would essentially have to find the unit rate of each of the different products and then compare the two. The students would rotate around to each of the stations comparing all of the items and identifying unit rates. Once completed, we would have a class discussion about the importance of the activity. The following questions could be asked:
How can this be used in somebody's every day life?
Can you explain in your own words the importance of finding unit rates?
Does this activity change the way that you think about grocery shopping? If so, in what ways has it changed the way you think? (There would be a discussion on different methods of finding unit rates by not setting up proportions.)
When the class discussion is completed the students would work with a partner on an in-class project. The students would need to take the information they have from the previous activity and begin constructing word problems. The students will have to prepare them in different ways using the data that they collected and a scenario to go along with it. Each pair of students would create five word problems on their own.
Assessment
For homework that night, the students would have to take their word problems home and teach their parents how to solve them. They will need to take them through the steps of how to set up and solve each proportion. The parent would then need to write a note stating that their child taught them how to solve problems involving unit rates. This will start up a good discussion with students and their parents because more than likely, their parents figure out the "better buy" or unit rate regularly.
Lesson 2
Prior to Lesson 2, the students would go through the strategies with me for setting up and solving percent proportions as listed in the strategies portion of my unit. We would use the problems in the text itself and also use sample problems from the Appendix. By the time the lesson is taught, the students would understand how to correctly set up a percent proportion to solve.
Objective
Students will be able to solve word problems by setting up and solving percent proportions.
Warm-up
"Describe where and how percents are used in our lives everyday. Be sure to include at least three examples, and then explain the importance of them."
Procedure
There would be a discussion of the warm-up focusing on where percents are used in our daily lives. I would be sure to focus on topics such as discounts when shopping, leaving a tip at a restaurant and tax on purchases.
The students would be given menus from an area restaurant. I find it easier to laminate them so that they will last longer than just paper menus. The students then are put into groups at different 'tables' as if they are coming to the restaurant for dinner. There will be one server for each table of guests. The students will order meals, including a drink and dessert. They will then have to figure out the price of their own meal with a given tax and tip percent. I will change the tax rate and tip amount each time. The server will then be the one that figures out the price for everyone at the table. The guests and server will share and discuss their answers.
The students will then have to take the menus and make three word problems based on the menu. Each individual student will write these based on the prices but using percents such as; how much is a certain entrée with a coupon for 15% off? There would be a discussion about as a customer, the tip is based on the original price, not the discounted price.
Assessment
The students would then trade with each other and answer the problems. They would then give the answered problems back to the person who constructed the problem. At this point, the students would check their peers work and discuss with them issues in ways that they were solved.
Lesson 3
Objective
Students will be able to construct and solve word problems containing proportions. They will also be able to solve problems that are made by their peers into the form of board games.
Warm-up
"Describe the correct process of how to set up a proportion and solve it using the following problem: Joey needed to go to the store. He looked on the map and saw that it was 5 inches from his hotel. The scale was 2 inches: 0.75 miles. How many miles did he walk to get to the store?"
Procedure
There would be a discussion about the warm-up. Students would share their responses and give an explanation as to how it works.
A project would be introduced to the students as a cumulative project based on proportions. The students would be put in groups of two to three students. In their groups they would have to make a board game. The game has to satisfy certain criteria. Each game has to have at least twenty word problems (either taken from books or made up on their own), with at least six of the types: percents, similar figures and scaling and unit rates. There also needs to be an answer key so that when other students play the game, they can check their work and answers. The students are expected to be creative on the type of game they produce. It can contain any type of subject or topic, just as long as there are the given amounts of word problems that can be solved by setting up a proportion.
Assessment
After completing the game board, the students would be graded on their project both individually and on the final product as a group grade. We would then spend some time allowing the students to play each other's games. Every game that the students play, they will fill out an evaluation sheet on the game they played. Those evaluations will also get averaged into the final grade.
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