Overview
Math and Science have been connected ever since their origin. While it is known that mathematics originated before Science there is no doubt that the two share a relationship. In fact, one of my most challenging obstacles is getting students to recognize the relationship between math and science. No disciplines exist in isolation and yet my students do not realize that mathematics is a critical support for science. For that reason, I have chosen to implement this seminar into my Science classes at Wagner Middle School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In particular, I intend to connect the math concepts of scientific notation with Astronomy and other real life situations.
This unit is designed for 6 th grade students, however they can be adjusted to meet the needs of any classroom that discusses scientific notation. The duration of the curriculum is also something that is tentative. However, most of the information should take a month to a month and a half to complete.
There are many objectives that I hope to accomplish over course of this unit.
The primary objective for this unit is to enable students to be able to use scientific notation proficiently and understand its implications to the real world. To accomplish this several other supplementary objectives will need to be addressed. The following objectives should be addressed in conjunction with the primary objective:
A) Understanding the meaning of 'order of magnitude' (size/place value) and how it is expressed in scientific notation
B) Understanding how the leading digits in scientific notation give good approximations to the number
C) Applying scientific notation to real-life scenarios and understanding its relation to Astronomic concepts.
Accordingly, the unit focuses on accuracy and order of magnitude, the two major concepts that make up scientific notation. The literature I have read about scientific notation focuses on real-life scenarios that use the applications of the scientific notation to express very big and very small numbers in relevant terms. The unit also aligns with Pennsylvania State Core Standards for sixth grade science, which can be found in an appendix of this unit. Processing the wealth of information made available to me on this subject has led me to believe that mathematics is the language of science, helping to explain the unexplainable. The better students understand that the better they will understand scientific law and theory.
In Astronomy, there is a major emphasis on order of magnitude and how it is used to express overarching concepts. These concepts can be neatly and compactly expressed using the technique of Scientific Notation. By understanding scientific notation, students will master these ideas and gain a deeper understanding of Astronomy. They will also realize that these concepts are simplifying life through the use of the notation and rounding. The object will be to get the students to see that each succeeding step provides more simplification of the concepts by utilizing the ideas of scientific notation. Presently, when my students attempt to solve Scientific Notation problems, they become frustrated and frequently give up. This could be due to the missing connection to relevant examples in their life. For that reason, many of the examples or problem sets will pertain to some aspects of their life. These connections should alleviate much of the frustration that make it impossible for them to progress towards proficiency, and hopefully also help them relate the ideas to familiar contexts. Eliminating such struggles and replacing that with the confidence they gain from experiencing early success is invaluable. It is reasonable to hope that their success in the more basic ideas can then be transferred to more complex concepts. Their familiarity with the examples will then share a bond with the concepts being taught in the lessons because they will connect one idea with another. This should result in better test results and increased confidence.
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