Resources

We have built on the Level 4 Problematised Situation, see Level 4 page 4, by creating an associated spreadsheet activity  in the following PowerPoint document.

Download How Many, How Far?

If this is printed on one piece of paper (double-sided) it can be laminated for use by students at the computer.

Target Strategies

seeing links between number of coins, distances and values using 5 cent coins

exploring powers of ten

converting kilometres to metres

entering and understanding formulae

interpreting data from a spreadsheet

using a spread sheet to work with large numbers

The Activity

Allow time for the students to measure and work with a small number of five cent coins and to make the links between, number of coins, distance stretched and total value before asking them to make simple predictions about other short distances before moving to the spreadsheet formulae. Encourage the students to use the information presented on the spreadsheet to make predictions about subsequent entries. As the students are working ask them to explain to each other:

what the formulae makes happen and why and how it matches the results

what they can say about the way the results increase each time and the relationships between each column

when else such a situation involving two or three relationships might arise

Extension

Some students might want to investigate this for other coins. Fri instance how would the values increase if 10, 20, or 50 cent coins were used. What would be the difference between $1 and $2 coins?

Encourage the students to record their findings so that they can make and report on comparisons between coins used.