LESSON PLAN
Name:
WGU Competency Number(s):

GENERAL INFORMATION

Subject(s):Beginning of Scientific Notation

Topic or Unit of Study:Historical Mathematician Archimedes

Grade/Level:9-12

Instructional Setting:
The group size will be a class of 16 in a regular classroom with individual desks facing a whiteboard utilized for visual presentation of lesson material.

STANDARDS AND OBJECTIVES

Your State Core Curriculum/Student Achievement Standard(s): Numbers and operations
MHMN1. Students will explore and use historical computational methods.
CCSS.Math.Content.8.EE.A.4 - Perform operations with numbers expressed in scientific notation

Lesson Objective(s):
The students will be able to with 90% accuracy use the method employed by Archemides to judge the volume of the classroom using non standard measuring tools. They will learn and master the concept of large numbers and how to note them more compactly using exponents and basic scientific notation. MATERIALS AND RESOURCES

Instructional Materials:
Internet connection, background information presentation of Archimedes found at http://wwws.aimsedu.org/previews/bkprev/HistConn1.html, kernels of popcorn, small half pint containers, measuring sticks, poster board, coloring pencils and worksheet #1(see attachment)

Resources: www.aimsedu.org INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN Sequence of Instructional Procedures/Activities/Events (provide description and indicate approximate time for each):

1. Identification of Student Prerequisite Skills Needed for Lesson:
The purpose of the lesson is to introduce the concept of large numbers through a historical event that Archimedes performed. This links history to math and may make volume calculations and scientific notation seem less daunting. The students need to be able to work multistep problems, measure with a meter stick.(2 minutes)

2. Presentation of New Information or Modeling:
Definitions of volume, scientific notation, Archimedes, and exponents will be presented on the board and copied into the students’ composition books.(5 minutes)

3. Guided Practice:
(5 minutes) A presentation of Archimedes will be given using the whiteboard and prepared images from the aims website. Discussion of the character of Archimedes will be discussed with questions like, “Do you feel that Archimedes was a rational man?, Was he consumed with questions that he was seeking answers to?, and How did he overcome challenges that he faced while searching for his answers?” The teacher leads discussion and then allows students to expound on why they answered as they did giving specific examples from Archimedes’s life. See attached information sheet.
After discussion is complete, the teacher will have students work in groups of four to create a poster depicting one aspect of Archimedes’s life and the “problem” he was consumed with at the time. This is a formative assessment for understanding.

(20 minutes) Students will work in groups of four to measure the classroom with the meter sticks. The measurement is noted for future use. They will then proceed to use half pint boxes. They will place as many kernels as they can in the box and note the number on worksheet one. When these two computations are completed, they will measure the container. This measurement is divided into the previously obtained room volume. This gives them a valid estimation of the number of boxes the classroom will hold. After that computation is complete the student will multiply the number of kernels by the number of boxes in order to answer the final question on worksheet A. Teacher will assist as necessary