Description
What our Graph Equations STEM lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Graph Equations STEM lesson plan teaches students how to graph equations. By the end of this lesson, students will be able to graph two variables on a coordinate plane, write an equation, and explain how the variables are related. This lesson is for students in 5th grade and 6th grade.
Classroom Procedure
Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the blue box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand. The supplies you will need for this lesson are M&Ms and measuring tapes.
Options for Lesson
Included with this lesson is an “Options for Lesson” section that lists a number of suggestions for activities to add to the lesson or substitutions for the ones already in the lesson. One optional addition to this lesson is to introduce the rate of change or slope alongside this lesson to increase the effectiveness of the learning. You can also ask your students to create a word problem and a graph using their interests and have them share their graphs one at a time with the class; each student should demonstrate on a board or computer how they collected their ordered pairs, wrote their equation, and made their graph. You could also have students share their graph only and then ask other students to explain the chart, helping emphasize that the graph works as a visual tool to assist people in understanding mathematical data.
Teacher Notes
The teacher notes page includes a paragraph with additional guidelines and things to think about as you begin to plan your lesson. This page also includes lines that you can use to add your own notes as you’re preparing for this lesson.
GRAPH EQUATIONS STEM LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
Graph Equations
The Graph Equations STEM lesson plan includes two content pages. If you’ve ever seen a falling rocks road sign, you know that they help you understand that falling rocks could fall onto the road quickly and you should be careful. In math, we use graphs in a similar way. They help show people information visually to help them understand it. Graphs of linear equations can represent relationships between things that change at a constant rate. Graphs can help show you what happens between two things, and are helpful for visualizing data in a way that equations or words cannot.
The lesson uses an example to help illustrate this. If you wanted to set up a lemonade stand, you would need a recipe. Your recipe calls for two scoops of lemonade mix for each batch. The equation to show the total scoops of mix (s) you’ll need for each batch (b) is 2b=s.
The equation is helpful, but a graph would be even better! To create a graph, we first need a set of ordered pairs that show batches (b) and scoops (s). We write the ordered pairs as (b, s). 1 batch needs 2 scoops, so the ordered pair would be (1, 2). The lesson shows all of the ordered pairs in a chart. Once we have the ordered pairs, we can graph them to show the relationship between scoops and batches.
You can do the same thing using another example: selling chocolate bars. Each chocolate bar you sell makes you $0.25. The equation to show the total amount of money you’ll make (m) for selling chocolate bars (b) is 0.25b=m.
Like the first example, we need to use ordered pairs to create the graph. The lesson shows the list of ordered pairs (b, m). The first is (2, 0.50) because bars (b) = 2 and money (m) = 0.50. Now that you have the list of ordered pairs, you can graph them. The lesson includes a blank graph that students can use to graph this example problem themselves for practice.
GRAPH EQUATIONS STEM LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Graph Equations STEM lesson plan includes three worksheets: an activity worksheet, a practice worksheet, and a homework assignment. You can refer to the guide on the classroom procedure page to determine when to hand out each worksheet.
M&MS ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
The activity worksheet asks students to first fill a cup with M&Ms. They will count the number of M&Ms in the cup to determine their initial sample size (n), which will be the value for t=0. Next, they will the shake the cup, pour out the M&Ms, and remove the candies that landed with the “M” side up. They will count the remaining M&Ms, which will be the value of n at t=1.
Next, they will put the remaining M&MMs back in the cup and repeat the last step, removing the M&Ms that land “M” side up. The remaining M&Ms are the value of n at t=2. They will repeat this process until there are no M&Ms with an “M” showing. They will record their results in the given table.
Finally, they will use the values from the table and graph them. They will also answer a few questions about the activity.
STEPS VS DISTANCE PRACTICE WORKSHEET
Students will work with a partner to complete the practice worksheet. Each pair will collect data about the distance someone travels in inches when they take different numbers of steps (for example, how many inches they travel in one step vs. how many inches they travel in five steps). Once they have this data, they can turn it into ordered pairs. They will graph their ordered pairs on the given graph. Finally, they will write an equation that models the distance traveled after walking a certain number of steps. They will repeat this for the second person in the pair.
GRAPH EQUATIONS STEM HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
For the homework assignment, students will write equations to represent the relationships in four different problems.
Worksheet Answer Keys
This lesson plan includes answer keys for the homework assignment. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits this page. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.
