Today we looked at different ways of modeling and solving problems involving proportional relationships. The students were able to independently come up with the common denominator, unit rate, ratio table and graphing methods. They have never been formally taught the cross product method, so I introduced this and had them talk in groups about why it works. Then, I had them work on the glowing rectangles problem.
Over the past few days we've been exploring some problems dealing with proportional thinking. I gave the students a few problems to work on independently. After they had a chance to think about and come up with a solution path to each of the problems, I had them share their solutions with their groups. The groups were asked to listen to each method of solving and decide on 1 that is correct and efficient. Then they created a poster sharing these methods.
I had a chance to look at them and passed them back the next day with a few notes on them about how they can more fully share their thinking. Next, I shared some student samples and let the class take on the job of the teacher. They looked at what method the students used to solve and what mistakes (if any) were made. This led in to a conversation about what are proportions and different ways of solving them. Today we looked at a few types of proportional relationships to look at the properties of what makes a proportion. We discussed how numbers have to increase at a constant rate. On a graph, this looks like a straight line that passes through the origin. As an equation it takes the form of y=kx. We then looked at some of our visual patterns that we have discussed in class and determined whether they represented a proportion.
To get us in a proportional mood, I had students go to the scale city website. We watched the video and answered the questions in the Dinosaur World section. There will be a lot covered in this unit and much of it will be ideas that will carry in to Algebra.
The learning targets in this unit are:
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June 2016
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