Lesson Name: Canteen Conundrum

Designed By: Krista Miller

Grade Level: 5th Part of the Lesson

ENGAGE: To review line plots from yesterdays lesson, the class will construct a human line plot. 1. A paper line plot will be placed on the oor. 2. Students will asked to take out a pencil and will be given a ruler. They will be asked to measure their pencils to the nearest 1/4 of an inch. Students will record answers on a sticky note. 3. 10 students will be asked to come and stand behind the number on our human line plot that matches their pencils measurement. 4. The rest of the class will recreate our human line plot in their math journals using a symbol to represent each person. 5. A line plot will then be created on the board, rst using the students sticky notes as the symbol, then using an x to replace the sticky notes. How long do you think most peoples pencils will be? What do you think will be the longest, shortest and most common length? How does a line plot help to organize this data? How can we represent each length when we create our line plots in our journals? Do all xs have the same value?

Questions

Time: 10 15 min

What length is most frequent? Introduce the Task - Today we are going to think about a time when What would the total length of you might use a line plot to help you solve a real life dilemma. The our pencils be if we put them situation is written out for you on the worksheet I am passing out end to end? (see attached). For this exercise you will be divided into teams and are expected to: -Figure out how water each canteen would have if the water was redistributed equally. -Explain your thinking and the strategy/strategies your group used to nd your answer. You may use the unix cubes and cups that you will be provided.

EXPLORE: THE TASK: Students will work in groups of 3-4 to nd a solution to the following scenario. Real World Scenario: A Boy Scout Troop is working on a badge for survival. In order to earn the badge, they must decide how to share their available water supply equally. The water is in 12 canteens with varying amounts of water in each. Students must figure out a way to redistribute the water, wasting as little as possible, so that each canteen holds the same amount. Canteen levels will be presented on a line plot.

Time: 15 20 min

EXPLORE: Anticipating Student Thinking: (Strategies that they NS - What can you use to might use) represent the various amounts of Strategy for engaging Non-Starter: water in each canteen? How could you share the water equally? How much water is there altogether? Student Strategy 1: Student used the data on their line plot to pair SS#1 - Why did you pair up some up the fractions of water into one liter pairs (1/4 and 3/4), then added of the fractions in our data? those left over to nd the total number of liters. They then divided Explain why you couldnt just count the water equally by drawing a picture or using manipulatives. up the number of xs. How do you know the amounts in the canteen are now equal? Student Strategy 2: Student nds the total number of liters by SS#2 - Why did you try to nd the adding up the fractions given. (1/4 +3/4 + 1/4 + 3/4, etc...) Student total amount of liquid? When then shares the total amount equally. adding your fractions, why did you keep the same denominator?

Student Strategy 3: Student nds the total number of liters by multiplying each volume by the number of canteens that held that volume. (1/4 x 3) + (3/4 x 3) + etc...) Then then divided their answer by 12, thus nding the mean.

SS#3 - Can you describe how you found the total number of liters? Why didnt you add the fractions? How did you distribute the water equally? Why does that work?

Student Strategy 4: Student drew a picture of 12 canteens and tried SS #4 - How easy was it for you to nd your answer? How do you to distribute the water through trial and error. know the amounts in the canteens are equal?

DISCUSSION/SUMMARY: Starting the Discussion: Give me a thumbs up if you drew a picture to help you solve this problem. Raise your hand if your group used manipulatives? Were there any other strategies used?
Time: 15 20 min

Encouraging Student Interaction: Have one student from each group briey explain their strategy. Allow the other groups to ask questions about their thinking. Are any similarities between the strategies? What was different about the way groups approached this problem? Focusing on the Mathematics: How does a line plot help to organize data? What does the x represent? When trying to share fairly, what operations might you use and how (+, -, x, /)? Concluding the Discussion: What have you learned from hearing about your classmates strategies? Which strategy makes the most sense to you? Are there any that do not make sense? Which strategy would you recommend to the Boy Scouts? Summary: Your groups came up with some great strategies for solving this problem. Will all of these strategies always work, or will they only work in certain situations? What are some other situations in which you might need to use one of these strategies? How can manipulatives help you to think through problems?

Additional Information Literature Connection:

deRubertis, B. (2000) Lulus Lemonade. New York: Kane Press. This book could be used to introduce liquid measurement in liters and proportion. Schwartz, D. (2006) Millions to Measure. New York: Harper Collins. An introduction to all types of measuring (including liters) is explored in this fun story about what life would be like without standard measurements.

Differentiation:
Needs More Scaffolding: Guide students in using Unix cubes to represent and 1/4 of a liter. Give students 12 cups to represent the canteens and model how to physically move the cubes to redistribute them.

Procient, Needs an Extension: Option 1: Have procient students add additional canteens to this situation, adding data to their line plot and redistributing the water again. Option 2: Have students create a number sentence that would allow others to solve this problem no matter what the data is.

Technology Connection:
The Soup Spot: In this online lesson, students will gain further practice reading line plots and interpreting the data that they collect during a survey. http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?ID=L520 Graph Master: Students can graph their data using an online graphing tool. This will allow them to experiment with additional types of graphs such as circle graphs or pictographs to display their data. http://mrnussbaum.com/graphmaster/

References:
Georgia Department of Education, Survival Badge retrieved from www.georgiastandards.org/Common-Core/ Pages/Math-K-5.aspx Utah Education Network, The Human Line Plot retrieved from http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview? LPid=15238

Survival Badge

The 132nd boy scout troop is on a wilderness adventure to earn one of their survival badges. The 12 boys were only given pocket knives and water canteens. Each canteen can hold 1 L (one liter) of water, but only one of them is full. As part of their survival training, the boys quickly realized that they need to evenly divide the water so that each boy has the same amount. The line plot below shows the amount of water in each canteen is:

Canteen Water Volume (in ounces) x x x 1/4 x x x x 1/2 x x x 3/4

x 0

x 1

If the boys shared the water evenly amongst the canteens, how full would each canteen be after sharing?

On the back of this paper, explain your thinking or draw a picture demonstrating the method you used to solve this problem.