An extensive lesson unit on water quantity and quality and why it is important in relation to human life. Provides lessons that incorporate language, social studies, geography, and health. Tests are also provided. This is one chapter of a resource called "Let's Not Take Water for Granted" that is published by Environment Canada. It is targeted for grades 5-7 but can easily be adapted for older grades.

Ratios

Type of Unit: Concept

Prior Knowledge

Students should be able to:

Calculate with whole numbers up to 100 using all four operations.
Understand fraction notation and percents and translate among fractions, decimal numbers, and percents.
Interpret and use a number line.
Use tables to solve problems.
Use tape diagrams to solve problems.
Sketch and interpret graphs.
Write and interpret equations.

Lesson Flow

The first part of the unit begins with an exploration activity that focuses on a ratio as a way to compare the amount of egg and the amount of flour in a mixture. The context motivates a specific understanding of the use of, and need for, ratios as a way of making comparisons between quantities. Following this lesson, the usefulness of ratios in comparing quantities is developed in more detail, including a contrast to using subtraction to find differences. Students learn to interpret and express ratios as fractions, as decimal numbers, in a:b form, in words, and as data; they also learn to identify equivalent ratios.

The focus of the middle part of the unit is on the tools used to represent ratio relationships and on simplifying and comparing ratios. Students learn to use tape diagrams first, then double number lines, and finally ratio tables and graphs. As these tools are introduced, students use them in problem-solving contexts to solve ratio problems, including an investigation of glide ratios. Students are asked to make connections and distinctions among these forms of representation throughout these lessons. Students also choose a ratio project in this part of the unit (Lesson 8).

The third and last part of the unit covers understanding percents, including those greater than 100%.

Students have ample opportunities to check, deepen, and apply their understanding of ratios, including percents, with the selection of problems in the Gallery.

Students use percents greater than 100% to solve problems about rainfall, revenue, snowfall, and school attendance.Key ConceptsPercents greater than 100% are useful in making comparisons between the values of a single quantity at two points in time. When a later value is more than 100% of an earlier value, it means the quantity has increased over time. This percent comparison can be used to find unknown values, whether the earlier or later value is unknown.Goals and Learning ObjectivesUnderstand the meaning of a percent greater than 100% in real-world situations.Use percents greater than 100% to interpret situations and solve problems.

This site is full of information and activities to help learn about the Florida Everglades, a unique wetland environment, and its future.

Count the amounts given to find the total. Five different games are available to practice counting and combining amounts.

Use the 10 frame to count the amounts given and find the total. Five different games are available to practice counting and combining amounts.

This website offers a very simple yet helpful description and example of the interaction of supply and demand, and what will happen to price and quantity when one or both of your supply and demand curves shift. This would be a good place to start if you are just beginning a study on supply and demand.

This site is an example of the use of exponential decay. The example involves the effectiveness of a medical dosage over time.