Big Ideas:
Estimating numbers to a single digit by a power of ten allows for a quick comparison of two very large values.
Comparisons of numbers written as a single digit multiplied by a power of ten are based on place value.
This lesson builds on students' work with place value and powers of ten. This task uses a students finding data on the number of visitors at various locations in the world. Students are presented with 4 locations and the number of visitors they receive in a given year. They then compare that to the number of visitors to the Amazon rain forest in a given year which leads to understanding how place value and powers of ten can be used to compare large numbers quickly. This lesson builds toward students' future work with computation in scientific notation.
Vocabulary: powers of ten
Lesson plan