Renee Jagodzinski
2/21/07 Lesson Plan

Title:  Scientific Notation

Grade Level:  9th

Materials:  Pen and pencils, chalkboard, Scientific Notation Worksheet, Overhead, Overhead sheet with Assessment problems, overhead pens.

Lesson Overview:  Students will work with using scientific notation to convert large numbers (or small numbers) into the scientific notation form and do the inverse, converting numbers that are in scientific notation form into the standard notation.  They will be taking notes, while working with the worksheets.

Lesson Objectives:  Students will be able to:
•	Convert large numbers into the scientific notation form and do the inverse
•	Comprehend the meaning of moving the decimal point
•	In certain cases, looking at fractions(or mixed numbers) and convert them into scientific notation 

NYS Standards:  Key Idea 3A:  Use addition, subtraction, division, and exponentiation with real numbers and algebraic expressions.

Anticipatory Set:   First write the number 100 on the chalkboard and ask the students how they would write this as an exponent in terms of 10.(answer: 10^2)  Then, write the number 10 on the board and ask them how they would write this as an exponent in terms of 10.(answer: 10 ^1)  Then, write the number 1 on the board and ask them how they would write this as an exponent in terms of 10.(answer: 10^0).  Write the fraction 1/10 on the board and ask them how they would convert this into a decimal and then convert that decimal into an exponents in terms of 10.(answer: decimal: 0.1; scientific notation: 
10 ^-1)  Ask the students if they have seen something like this before and ask them what it is called when you convert a number into an exponent in terms of 10.(scientific notation)  Time: 5 - 10 minutes

Developmental Activity:  
1.	Introduce scientific notation and tell them (if they didn’t guess it in the anticipatory set) that this is what it means to convert a number into an exponent in terms of 10.  Go over any problems that the students had with the Anticipatory Set questions.  Emphasis why we use scientific notation and the use of having a number system like this.  
2.	Start doing the first couple of problems on the worksheet with the students and have them tell you how you should go about the problems. (some where you have to change the large number into scientific notation and some where you have to change scientific notation into the standardized notation and some converting numbers into scientific notation using fractions or mixed numbers).  On the questions that have the students convert fractions into decimals and decimals into scientific notation, this is just to give students practice in converting fractions into decimals and if they ever do get a question on one of the Math A exams that wants them to express a fraction into scientific notation, converting those fractions into decimals may make it easier to convert into scientific notation.   Make sure that you emphasize when and how you need to move the decimal point in certain cases and what to look for when you need to figure out which way you have to move the decimal point.  Also emphasis to the students that the decimal point needs to be between the first number and all the rest of the numbers, which will be after the decimal point. 
3.	After doing a couple of problems with them on the worksheet, have them either work together or independently with the rest of the problems on the worksheet, making sure you guide them through any problems they are having trouble with in completing the task or any questions they may have.
4.	Once they have completed the worksheet, go over the worksheet with them by putting the problems up on the board and having students come up to the board and write out the work they did.  But, first ask them if they can figure out a real-world problem that uses scientific notation.  They need to explain what they did in the problem to the class and make sure you correct any mistakes they have made or any misunderstandings they had with a particular problem.  Have the students look at their calculators and have them put an example of scientific notation in their calculator.  Show them the similarities and differences between the two so that if they see something like this on the calculator, they will know that it’s scientific notation.  Also, if the students didn’t quite explain the problem fully or explicitly, add to their explanation so the rest of the class will be able to get a better understanding of what and why they did what they did with the problem.

Time:  30 mins.

Closure:  To make the final summary/review of the main points of the lesson, ask the students questions about what they have learned today.  For example, some questions may be, “Why use scientific notation on large numbers?”, “How do you know which way you must move the decimal point to put a number into scientific notation?”, “When moving the decimal point, in between which 2 numbers do you stop and place the decimal point between?”, etc.  There will also be homework that is similar to the problems that we did on the worksheet.  Also, include some problems from previous Math A exams in the homework.  Once they turn in their homework and grade them and hand them back, tell them which questions were the ones on the Math A exams and see if they were a challenge to them to complete.  If so, we will go over those problems to have the students comprehend what they did wrong or any that they didn’t comprehend about the question.

Time:  5 mins

Assessment:  At the end of class, put a couple of problems up on the overhead of what we did today.(Assessment Problems below)  All these problems will be examples from previous Math A exams and they will do the problems individually on a sheet of paper to hand in at the end of class.  They will have to state the correct answer and create an explanation or show how they came to a conclusion on that answer.  The reason for this is that you will be able to identify which students still need help on this subject and which students have good knowledge.  Walk around the classroom to see how they are doing with the problems and see if they need any help or if they need guidance in any way.  Go over the problems the next day with the students to see how they did.  The students that still need help, offer them extra help either after class or on their own time to come to go over anything they are having trouble with.  We will go over plenty of problems dealing with the subject to give them plenty of practice.   Time:  5 - 10 mins

On the Overhead

Assessment Problems:

1.)  Which expression is equivalent to 6.02 x 10^23?  (August 1999)
A.)  0.602 x 10^21
B.)  60.2 x 10^21
C.)  602 x 10^21
D.)  6020 x 10^21

2.)  If the number of molecules in 1 mole of substance is 6.02 x 10^23, then the number of molecules in 100 moles is:   (January 2000)
A.)  6.02 x 10^21
B.)  6.02 x 10^22
C.)  6.02 x 10^24
D.)  6.02 x 10^25

3.)  A micron is a unit used to measure specimens viewed with a microscope.  One micron is equivalent to 0.00003937 inch.  How is this number expressed in scientific notation:  (August 2006)
A.)  3.937 x 10^-5
B.)  3.937 x 10^5
C.)  3937 x 10^8
D.)  3937 x 10^-8

4.)  The size of a certain type of molecule is 0.00009078 inch.  If this number is expressed as 9.078 x 10^n, what is the value of n?  (January 2006)
A.)  -5
B.)   5
C.)  -8
D.)  8

5.)  The expression 0.62 x 10^3 is equivalent to:  (August 2005)
A.)  0.062
B.)  62,000
C.)  6.2 x 10^4
D.)  6.2 x 10^2

6.)  The number 1.56 x 10^-2 is equivalent to:  (August 2004)
A.)  156
B.)  0.156
C.)  0.0156
D.)  0.00156

Name:                                                                                            
Date:

Scientific Notation

1.)  Write the following numbers in scientific notation:
	A.)  1,000
	
	B.)  0.01

	C.)  514,200

	D.)  0.000345

	E.)  123,876.3

	F.)  0.000000000000211

2.)  Write the following numbers that are in scientific notation into standard notation:
	A.)  7.92 X 100 

	B.)  4.36 X 10-4

	C.)  5.78 × 10–9

	D.)  4.36 × 10–11

	E.)  3.6 × 1012 

	F.)  2.4327 x 104

3.)  Write the following fractions (or mixed numbers) into decimals and then translate into scientific notation:
	A.)  

	B.)  614 
                100,000

	C.)  8 3
                      4

	D.)  6 49 
                     100

Answer Key
(Overhead Assessment Problems)

1.)	Answer: C
2.)	Answer: D
3.)	Answer: A
4.)	Answer: A
5.)	Answer: D
6.)	Answer: C

Answer Key
(Worksheet Problems)

1.)	A.) 1 x 10^3
B.) 1x 10^-2
C.) 5.142 x 10^5
D.) 3.45 x 10^-4
E.) 1.238763 x 10^5
F.) 2.11 x 10^-13

2.)	A.) 7.92
B.) .000436
C.) .00000000578
D.) .0000000000436
E.) 3,600,000,000,000
F.) 24,327

3.)	A.) decimal: .1666666667
           Scientific notation: 1.666666667 x 10^1
	B.) decimal: .00614
           Scientific notation: 6.14 x 10^-3
	C.) decimal: 8.75
           Scientific notation: 8.75 x 10^0
	D.) decimal: 6.49
           Scientific notation: 6.49 x 10^0