Mathematical goals

This lesson unit is intended to help students to:

• Reason precisely and defend their conclusions.
• Use mathematics to model a scenario concerning volume.

Introduction

The lesson unit is structured in the following way:

• Before the lesson, students attempt the Packing It In task individually. You review their responses and formulate questions that will help them improve their work.
• At the start of the lesson, students read your comments and consider ways to improve their work.
• In pairs or threes, students work together to develop a better solution, producing a poster to show their conclusions and their reasoning.
• Then, in the same small groups, students look at some sample student work showing different approaches to the problem. They evaluate the strategies used and seek to improve the arguments given.
• In a whole-class discussion, students compare different solution methods.
• Finally, students reflect individually on their learning.

Materials required

• Each student will need a copy of Packing it In and How Did You Work? and some blank paper to work on. Provide calculators for students who wish to use them.
• Each pair of students will need the three Sample Responses to Discuss, a piece of poster paper, a marker and some glue.
• Have graph paper and if possible, unifix cubes or small cardboard boxes available.
• There is a projector resource to support whole-class discussions.

Time needed