Learning it's more meaningful when given purpose and context. Engagement and commitment arise when students are involved in real-life problems where they can apply and demonstrate their knowledge. As topic closure of the Division unit, I set the kids for a shopping spree at the BBB Gallery. Students worked in partners to purchase several electronic devices like TVs, tablets, computers, etc. They received credit cards to buy these items in monthly quotes, they had to calculate the proper payments using division. Students had to used rounding or compatible numbers to divide, they had to agree with their partner and justify their choice.
This was also a good opportunity for differentiation because students were paired by levels and received different scenarios in an envelope. The envelope contained a mock credit card and instructions. Some had a monthly budget and how many items they could purchase. The quantities varied, everyone had to justify why they chose either Rounding or Compatible Numbers to divide, but some students had to also compare their results with the actual division and decide which method was more accurate.
The lesson was quite engaging, students worked fine and most finished their assignments.
Besides practicing dividing accurately, their conversations were maybe the most valuable part of the lesson.
I had done this lesson in the past, but adding the scenarios and the conversation part allowed the students to dig deeper into their thinking and gave the lesson a new rigor.
TEKS: 4.F ◆ 4.G