Simplifying Fractions

The Great Pizza Dilemma
A Problem-Based Lesson for
6th grade math
Designed by
Gary Berger, Kamalene Nelson and Karen Macks





Task
Your first place soccer team just won the regional tournament and your coach wants to take the whole team out to, you guessed it, PIZZA. So you head over to Pizza Hut and order 8 large delicious pizzas. Just your luck... Pizza Hut is short staff that night afternoon and you will have to cut your own pizzas. Shawn's mom cuts four pizza's into 12 slices, Shasha's dad cuts two pizzas into 8 slices, and Sam's grandfather cuts two pizzas into 6 slices each. You all look at the pizza's and suddenly realize there is a problem! The slices are all different sizes! How will you guarantee that each person gets the exact same amount of pizza? What can you do to fix this problem? Hurry, the pizza's are getting cold and you are starving!
Standards

Arizona K-12 Content Standard

• Concept 1: Number Sense
  • Strand 1: Number Sense and Operations.
  • Understand and apply numbers, ways of representing numbers, the relationships among numbers and different number systems.
    • PO 4 Determine the equivalency between and among fractions, decimals, and percents in contextual situations.

21st Century Standard

• Life and Career Skills
  • Social and Cross Cultural
    • Work effectively in diverse teams

ISTE Standard

• Standard 1: Creativity and Innovation

Procedure

Student Directions	Teacher Notes	Technology Use
1. View on-line tutorials	1. on-line tutorial site.	1. Computers
2. Complete question sheet on tutorials	2. Circulate through room to ensure students are on correct site and understand questions	2. Computers
3. Students organize into diverse learning groups and review etiquette for group work	3. Assign learning groups with diverse cultures, language, and learning abilities
4. In diverse learning groups, students complete exploration activity sheet using manipulatives	4. Distribute manipulatives (fractions bars, pattern blocks, fraction pieces, and pizza fraction pieces, Cuisinaire Rods) and activity sheets. Ask clarification and probing questions as students use inquiry model to solve exploration activities.
5. Regroup as whole class where students report finding from exploration activity	5. Distribute manipulatives (fractions bars, pattern blocks, fraction pieces, and pizza fraction pieces, Cuisinaire Rods) and activity sheets. Ask clarification and probing questions as students use inquiry model to solve exploration activities.
6. As a whole class, students report findings from exploration activity using document camera.	6. Facilitate discussion by giving guideline questions groups must respond to. Make sure to define equivalent fractions.	6. SMART Board Document camera
7. Regroup into diverse learning groups and complete practice worksheets on finding equivalent fraction using manipulatives of choice	7. Before students break into groups, model worksheet completion using SMART Board and the Virtual Manipulatives website	7. SMART Board NLVM.com
8. Come together as a class and report findings.	8. Facilitate and support, but let groups report. Make sure how they came up with their answers is addressed.	8. SMART Board, Document Camera, laptop
9. Students get back into learning groups and solve the problem at hand using anything they desire to show their results.	9. Facilitate and provide resources. Make sure students know that they have a multitude of choices for presentation.	9. SMART Board, Document Camera, laptop, video camera, digital camera

Assessment
Self Scoring Rubric

Materials
phschool.com
NLVM.com
(fractions bars, pattern blocks, fraction pieces, and pizza fraction pieces, Cuisinaire Rods)
SMART Board, Document Camera, laptop, video camera, digital camera
poster board, coloring tools, glue, glitter and other classroom art supplies as needed
worksheets
rubric