Looking to engage your students? Teaching through problem solving and using this 3 part lesson provides an ideal opportunity for your students to develop mathematical skills, tools and strategies. Working cooperatively through hypothetical real world problems and sharing their ideas, further strengthens communication skills.

Test your students ability to convert fractions to percentages in a problem solving scenario. Picture this: students were surveyed about their preference for an intramural sport. The principal strategically spilt his coffee on the chart showing the results, hiding the amount of votes for dodgeball. The students must figure out the missing value before determining what fraction and then percentage of the student population voted for dodgeball.

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WHAT'S INCLUDED

• Tips Sheet: This detailed guide will provide you with a break down of each part of the lesson . This includes how much time is allocated, what the students and teacher role is, and a list of guiding questions that the teacher could ask students in order to clarify their thinking.

• Problem Solving Checklist: An optional problem solving checklist has been included for your students to use to self assess their work.

• Getting Started: Your students will be lead through a quick warm up activity to activate prior knowledge or review concepts. With this activity, students tally survey data in a chart so that they can determine fractional amounts and then convert them into percentages.

• Working On It: A rich problem solving task in which students complete with a partner, in a small group, or individually.

• Reflect and Connect: This is a list of things the teacher needs to highlight while students present and share their solutions to the Working On It task. It includes a list of guiding questions to ask while students present solutions to their work. It also includes a list of problem solving strategies that could be identified in the presenting group's work. This sheet also demonstrates how to effectively display student work in the classroom so that strategies can easily be referenced during other problem solving opportunities.

• Exit Ticket: These problem solving tasks are similar to the one students worked cooperatively on during the Working On It part of the lesson. Each student will complete the exit ticket independently using the strategies they reviewed in the Reflect and Connect phase. This work is used for assessment purposes and allows the teacher to identify common misconceptions or areas of need. It is also a great opportunity for the teacher to provide individualized descriptive feedback that is directly related to the criteria on the problem solving checklist.

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BENEFITS

• Increases engagement: Students are more involved in problems that are relatable and relevant.
• Making connections: Helps students to connect concepts and skills to everyday contexts.
• Clearly outlined learning goals: The learning goal of the lesson is posted at the top of each page.
• Less anxiety: Provides students with the chance to process their thoughts and check their ideas with a partner or small group.
• Builds student confidence: Before students complete an independent problem solving task, they have the opportunity to engage in discussions, ask questions, and observe their peers model effective strategies.
• Variety of groupings: Allows the teacher to create guided math groups based on individual needs.
• Variety of solutions: Students develop an awareness and appreciation of multiple ways to solve problems.
• Differentiated: Multiple pathways to solving problems help reach more learners.
• Communication skills developed: Students are engaged in deep meaningful discussions and make use of appropriate math vocabulary or terms.

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OTHER MATH PROJECTS BY BLUE SKY SCHOLASTICS:

• Finding the Percent of a Number - A Problem Solving Activity
• Using Percent Benchmarks to Estimate Quantities - A Problem Solving Activity
• Probability End of the Unit Summative Assessment Task for Grade 6
• Probability End of the Unit Summative Assessment Task for Grade 7
• Probability and Frequency Tables - A Problem Solving Activity
• Comparing Theoretical Probabilities - A Problem Solving Activity
• Using a probability number line to describe the likelihood of an event occurring

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