Big Ideas:
Multiplication can be used to compare quantities.
You can use bar models to find the products of a whole number and a fraction.
In this lesson, students make the connection between the visual models they create and the math processes they will use to solve more numerically diverse and complicated math problems. This task uses the running times of four friends; only one of the times is known and the other have to be determined. Students are expected to draw a visual model for the scenario, to write and solve the math sentence that it depicts, and to explain how the visual model supports the mathematical procedure of multiplying a whole number by a fraction. The mathematical concepts in this lesson build toward students' future work with multiplying fractions and ratios and proportions.
Vocabulary:
visual model, improper fraction, factor, product
Special Materials:
snap cubes (optional)
Lesson plan