Lesson Plan: What Kind of Pet Should Your Family Get?
Grade Level: 6-8Time span: 3 class periods
NCTM Standards:
- Develop meaning for integers and represent and compare quantities with them.
- Understand the meaning and effects of arithmetic operations with fractions, decimals, and integers.
- Develop and use strategies to estimate the results of rational-number computations and judge the reasonableness of the results.
- Develop, analyze, and explain methods for solving problems involving proportions, such as scaling and finding equivalent ratios.
Massachusetts Frameworks:
- Select and use appropriate operations—addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and positive integer exponents—to solve problems with rational numbers (including negatives).
- Extend, represent, analyze, and generalize a variety of patterns with tables, graphs, words, and, when possible, symbolic expressions. Include arithmetic and geometric progressions, e.g., compounding.
- Create and use symbolic expressions and relate them to verbal, tabular, and graphical representations.
- Investigate the use of systems of equations, tables, and graphs to represent mathematical relationships.
Scenario:
Your family wants to get a pet, but they can't decide if it should be a dog or a cat. They've asked you to help them determine which type of pet would be the best choice.
Lesson Steps
Day 1: Quiz
Students will go to this online survey and take an introductory Pet Survey. This survey will introduce students to the survey method you'll be using in this project and it will also help them see how step-by-step analysis is the key to problem solving.
Day 2: Survey Development
Students will develop their own "pet survey," which they will give to their family to determine which type of pet -- a dog or a cat -- would be most enjoyed by the majority of their family members.
To begin, students will:
- Use the Web to find five characteristics of a dog (e.g. "active," "loyal")
- Use the Web to find five characteristics of a cat (e.g. "independent," "minimal care required")
Students will then take these 10 characteristics and make sure there are no overt mentions of dogs or cats within them (remember: the idea is for survey participants to rank their likes and dislikes without a specific type of pet in mind -- the survey results will help determine which type of pet matches up with their preferences).
The 10 characteristics must be shown to the teacher for approval. Students will lose points if you do not follow this step.
Once approved, students must use the accompanying template (survey_sheet_template.doc) to enter their 10 characteristics. They should mix the characteristics up so they don't have 5 dog characteristics followed by 5 cat characteristics.
For homework, students must administer separate surveys for each of the people who lives in their home. They will need to print out multiple copies of the survey.
Students are required to hand in all of their hard copy surveys at the conclusion of this project.
Day 3: Analysis
Students begin by opening the Survey Results Template (survey_results_template.xls) and inserting each of their pet characteristics into the "Characteristics" column.
Next, students look over their hard copy surveys and note the number of 1-5 responses each characteristic received. For example: If a student listed "Needs Exercise" as a characteristic and that characteristic received 3 total "Good" votes from family members, the student will insert a "3" under the "Good" column on their spreadsheet.
After students have entered all their data, they will use Excel's chart wizard to create either a bar chart or a pie chart based on their survey results.
Students will use their charts to match their family's preferences with the most appropriate pet. Students need to chronicle their analysis and their conclusions in a 200-word "Final Analysis" paper. This paper must address the following questions:
- What characteristics are most important to your family?
- Do these characteristics surprise you, or do they match your original assumptions?
- How do your family's preferences match up with the characteristics of dogs?
- How do your familiy's preferences match up with the characteristics of cats?
- Which type of pet -- dog or cat -- will you recommend to your family?
Students must print out and hand in their Excel spreadsheet/chart and their 200-word "Final Analysis" paper.
Rubric
- Student took Quia quiz.
- Student listed out 5 characteristics of a dog and 5 characteristics of a cat.
- 10 characteristics were approved by the teacher.
- Hard-copy surveys were submitted at the conclusion of the project.
- Excel spreadsheet/chart handed in.
- Final Analysis paper handed in.
Teacher Activity
The teacher will compile results from the online survey to develop a PowerPoint presentation. This presentation will aggregate the students' results to reveal which type of pet -- a dog or a cat -- would be most appropriate for the entire class.
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