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Students will fill in the blanks so three fractions add to exactly 1.07, then discover that the hundredths must end in 7 because two tenths can only add tens of hundredths, never the ones place.
Students will fill in the blanks to place a fraction and a decimal exactly two hundredths apart, then discover why every answer ends in 8 and the decimal always sits just below the fraction.
Students will fill in the blanks to find division expressions that equal exactly 5.
Students fill in the blanks of the equation using each digit from zero to nine only once to find solutions.
Students will fill in the blanks to find decimal pairs with a product of exactly 9.
Students fill in the blanks of the equation using each digit from zero to nine only once to find solutions.
Students will fill in the blanks to find decimal pairs with a difference of exactly 7.5.
Students fill in the blanks of an equation using each digit from zero to nine only once to find solutions.
Students will fill in the blanks to find decimal pairs that add to exactly 5.
Students fill in the blanks of an equation with unique digits to create true mathematical statements.
Using calculators, students will note patterns when multiplying decimals.
Students multiply 15 times 100, 10, 1, 0.1, and 0.01 and then predict the product of 15 × 0.001. They look for a pattern.
Using the same idea from step one, students work with multiplying by 0.02 and 0.05. They’re honing their pattern from step one.
Finally, students practice predicting decimal multiplication problems and checking with their calculators.
In this math project, students will design and furnish suites and rooms in a hotel. Then they will use their talents to sell their hotel in a presentation.
First, your students will plan the big picture of their hotel: what will make it special?
Next, students go shopping for furniture to fill their rooms and suites. My class started with IKEA’s catalog, but students liked to use other shops as well.
They’ll break their spending down into five categories of their choosing.
Finally, they’ll determine their hotel’s potential profitability.
Students use authentic data to determine how much money they’d have if they sold an original iPod compared to selling an equivalent amount of Apple stock.
Introduce the prompt: What if we bought Apple stock instead of the original iPod? How much money would we have if we sold them both today? Ask “what do we need to know?” to answer this. Students will find this information online.
Students compute the number of Apple shares they could have bought on October 23, 2001. Then they compute the amount of money those shares would be worth now.
They create three interesting ways to express the two amounts: one using a pure math skill (percents, ratio, difference) and two using equivalence (how many Big Macs, tickets to Disneyland, or PlayStations could you buy with the two values).
Students repeat their investigation for another product or company (or twice if you’d like!).
They finally create a big idea about investing vs spending, backing it up with evidence from their research. Their final product can take the form of an essay, presentation, video, website, etc.