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IXL: Math Practice - Scientific Notation
Details
Activity Description
This activity gives students the needed practice to reinforce classroom instruction on Scientific Notation. Students are asked to convert from standard form to scientific notation. Students who answer incorrectly are given an explanation of the correct solution and an opportunity to try again.
This site requires a paid membership; however, you are permitted free access to 20 questions per day. IXL provides differential instruction and tracks student progress with the paid subscription. The questions will automatically increase in difficulty as the student improves.
The cost is not exorbitant, but at the present time, it is $299 per year and up for your class.
Preparation
- Check to be sure that the site is not blocked by your school.
- Be sure to review the topic of scientific notation the day before.
- Try some of the exercises to check the difficulty level. Students will need to be able to convert from standard form to scientific notation and vice-versa. Review if necessary.
- Create a short formative quiz to check for understanding.
Teacher Tips
- The material is already divided by grade level and in order of difficulty. When teaching a lesson, for instance, proportions, just follow all the links in the order it shows under the words "Scientific Notations".
- It keeps track of problems attempted and time elapsed.
Program Areas
- ASE: High School Equivalency Preparation
- ABE: Adult Basic Education
- ASE: High School Diploma
Levels
- Intermediate
- High
Lesson Plan
Objective: Engage students and activate prior knowledge.
Activity:
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- Quick Review and Real-Life Application.
- Discuss briefly what scientific notation is and its importance in various fields such as science, engineering, and finance.
- Show examples of where scientific notation is used in real life (e.g., distances in astronomy, size of microscopic organisms).
Interactive:
- Have students share examples they might know or have seen with a partner.
Objective: Introduce the topic and objectives for the lesson.
Activity:
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- Direct Instruction on Scientific Notation.
- Explain the concepts of standard form and scientific notation.
- Demonstrate how to convert a number from standard form to scientific notation and vice-versa using several examples.
Collaborative:
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- Use a whiteboard or digital tool to allow students to try conversions in pairs or small groups.
Objective: Provide clear and detailed instructions on the new content.
Activity: Step-by-Step Conversion Process
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- Break down the process of converting between standard form and scientific notation into clear steps.
- Provide multiple examples and solve them with the class.
- Interactive: Use a classroom response system (clickers or a digital polling tool) to gauge student understanding in real time.
Objective: Give students hands-on practice with immediate feedback.
Activity: Online Practice with IXL.
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- Preparation: Ensure the IXL site is accessible and that students have logins if needed.
- Assign the "W.1 Convert between standard and scientific notation" activity on IXL.
- Collaborative: Pair students and have them work together on initial problems, discussing their thinking and reasoning.
- Interactive: As students work, walk around to provide assistance and immediate feedback. Use a projector to display common mistakes and correct them as a class.
Objective: Assess student understanding through formative assessment.
Activity: Formative Quiz
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- Provide a short quiz with problems requiring conversion between standard form and scientific notation.
- Collaborative: Review the quiz answers as a class, allowing students to explain their thought process.
- Interactive: Use peer assessment techniques where students exchange quizzes and mark each other’s work under guided supervision.
Activity: Summative Assessment
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- Conduct a comprehensive test covering conversions between standard form and scientific notation.
- Collaborative: Post-assessment discussion on challenging problems to solidify understanding.
Objective: Apply the learned concepts to new situations and real-world problems.
Activity: Real-Life Problem Solving
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- Present real-life problems that require the use of scientific notation (e.g., comparing sizes of planets, computing very large or small quantities).
- Collaborative: Group students to solve these problems and present their solutions to the class.
- Interactive: Encourage a class discussion on different methods and approaches used by groups.
Documents
- Conversions Between Standard Form and Scientific Notation.docx - Comprehensive Quiz on Conversions Between Standard Form and Scientific Notation
Subjects
- Math
- Algebra
- Whole Number Skills
Standards
- Operations and Algebraic Thinking
- 5.OA.1-2 - Write and interpret numerical expressions.