Lesson objective: Solve problems by writing and evaluating an algebraic expression
This lesson provides an opportunity for students to apply their knowledge and understanding of algebraic expressions to a real-life situation. Students are asked to write a general expression for the volume of a container and then use their expressions to help a chef find the best-sized container for her pantry ingredients.
Key Concept students will use:
- Algebraic expressions can represent both a “recipe” and a quantity (that we may or may not be able to name with a number).
Skills students will use:
- write an expression describing the volume of a rectangular prism
- find the volume of a rectangular prism (Grade 5, Unit 1)
- use order of operations to simplify expressions containing exponents
Students engage in Mathematical Practice 2 (reason abstractly and quantitatively) as they use the context of a real-world problem to write an expression and then evaluate the expression at specific values to find the best solution to the problem.
Key vocabulary:
- evaluate
- expression
- order of operations
- value
- volume