Let's Ride!

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  Model Eliciting Activity (MEA)

• Formative Assessment

  
  

  The comprehension questions/readiness questions and reflection questions can be used as formative assessment (for questions, see the Readiness questions section). Comprehension and readiness questions will indicate whether the students understand the problem and the problem context, and reflection questions are meant to elicit students’ thinking as they are working through the problem. The comprehension/readiness questions are asked of students after they read the first client letter (see Reading Passage 1).
  
  The teacher can ask the class to respond to these questions and ensure understanding before students begin working with the data. Students’ responses to the reflective questions can also indicate whether scaffolding is needed. The reflection questions are asked by the teacher as students are working in their groups on parts 1 and 2 of the MEA. These questions can reveal any misunderstanding or issues that students have as well as guide them to think about what they are doing.

• Feedback to Students

  
  

  Students will receive feedback from the teacher at various times throughout the lesson. Students' responses to readiness questions and comprehension/readiness questions will determine if they need additional clarification.

• Summative Assessment

  
  

  The teacher can use student responses to comprehension questions to evaluate student understanding of the learning objectives. In addition, the teacher can create a scoring rubric to evaluate student presentations. The attached Peer Presentation Rubric can be used to evaluate student presentations.
  
  Peer Presentation Rubric (Group).doc

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  The students will:

  • Understand the concept of positive and negative.
  • Develop an understanding of statistical variability.

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students must know:

  • how to read and interpret a data table.
  • the definitions of positive and negative.
  • the meanings of miles per gallon (mpg), warranty.

• Instructional Suggestions

  
  

  Part I:

  1. Brainstorm "Buying a New Car" to assess students' knowledge of car buying ideas.
  2. Provide a copy of the informational text (see Supplemental Reading) to each student and ask students to highlight vocabulary they don't understand. Afterwards, lead a class discussion focused on clarifying confusing vocabulary and following the discussion questions provided with the reading. The purpose of the text is to introduce students to the topic and prepare them for the activity. http://adage.com/article/news/parents-involve-kids-car-buying-decisions/234124/
  3. Students receive client letter 1 (Reading passage 1), dataset 1.
  4. The teacher can ask the readiness/comprehension questions (see Readiness questions) to the class or have students complete them individually on paper. After students understand the task, they can begin to work in teams of approximately 3-4.
  5. In teams, students work on the problem and respond to the client withtherequesteddeliverables.
     1. As students are working, the teacher circulates to each team to ask the first set of Guiding/Reflective Questions and address any issues that may arise.
     2. Teachers can provide guidance using the reflective questions to help students determine the important factors and start thinking about how they can present their solution.

  
  Part II:

  1. Students receive the client letter 2 and dataset 2, along with their work from part 1.
  2. Teams test, evaluate, and revise their first procedure as necessary withtheseconddataset and providetherequesteddeliverables as specified in the second letter.
     1. If teams finish early, they can begin preparing their presentations.
  3. After all of the teams have completed their second letters to the client, the teams will present their results to the rest of the class. Peer critique using the Peer Presentation Rubric (see Summative Assessment, Peer Rubric) and classroom discussion follow.

• Supplemental Reading

  
  

  Title: Three Out of Five Parent Involve Kids in Car-Buying Decisions
  
  Summary: This informational text addresses a growing trend of allowing kids to give input into the car-buying process.
  Link to text: http://adage.com/article/news/parents-involve-kids-car-buying-decisions/234124/
  Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 7.8
  Word document of Supplementary Reading (Kids in Car Buying).docx

• Guiding/reflective Questions

  
  

  Part I:

  1. What do the plus signs represent?
  2. What do the minus signs represent ?
  3. When should you place a plus sign in the box?
  4. When should you place a minus sign in the box?
  5. What method do you plan to use to rank the cars?
  6. After ranking the cars, how will you determine the top four cars choices?

• Reading Passage 1

  
  

  Client Letter 1.docx

• Readiness Questions

  
  
  1. What is the problem?
  2. Who is the client?
  3. What is the client asking your team to do?
  4. What things do you need to include in your solution?
  5. Do you think there is more than one correct answer to what the client is asking? Why or why not?

• Data Set 1

  
  

  Dataset 1

• Letter Template 1

  
  

  Letter Template 1 (Let's Ride).docx

• Comprehension/readiness questions

  
  
  1. What is the problem?
  2. Who is the client?
  3. What is the client asking your team to do?
  4. What things do you need to include in your solution?

• Reading Passage 2

  
  

  Client Letter 2.docx

• Data Set 2

  
  

  Dataset 2

• Letter Template 2

  
  

  Letter Template 2 (Let's Ride).docx

• Additional Instructions or Materials

  
  

  Student Worksheet 1 (Dataset 1)
  Student Worksheet 2 (Dataset 2)

• Reflection question 2

  
  

  Part I:

  1. Did any of the cars meet all of the standards? If so, which cars?
  2. Did any of the cars fail to meet any of the standards? If so, which cars?
  3. Which standard did most cars meet? Which standard did the fewest number cars meet? Why do you think that is?
  4. What method did you use to rank the cars? Were any of the cars closely ranked? Which cars?
  5. What method did you use in determining which car to rank highest?
  6. Which model car did you rank 1st? last? Why?
  7. How does this activity relate to positive and negative numbers?