Welcome Students Scratch Takes the Itch Out of Fractions: To The Moon and Beyond! Introduction The world around us offers and endless source of connections to the concepts and topics we study in school. The moon has fascinated civilizations for thousands of years. The moon has been a source of wonder, an object of worship and a sentinel that to this day, marks several key holidays in many countries. In South Korea, different phases of the moon mark birthdays and the beginning and ending of major holidays. For example, Korean New Year's Day and Midautumn Festival (otherwise known as Chuseok) are guided by the lunar calendar. If you know a little about the importance of lunar calendars, it can help you connect to new friends in your community. Learning about the phases of the moon can also help you visualize and understand how we can use fractions and percentages to describe the objects around us in real-world applications. In this lesson, you will learn how to recognize the major phases of the moon and make reasonable predictions about changes that continually occur in the phases of the moon. You will also learn how to represent the phases of the moon as fractions, decimals and percentages and how to graph these mathematical representations in picture and graph form. We will use graphic organizers, web-based graphs and our web-based program Scratch to become fluent in Moonphaseology! Check out these quick videos for a brief review of why the moon appears to look differently every night! After viewing one or more of the videos below, discuss the questions listed below the video links with your assigned partner! |
After viewing any or all of the videos, discuss the following questions with your partner:
1.Why is it helpful to use percentages to describe the fullness of the moon? 2.When are fractions used to describe the fullness of the moon? 3.Why do you think percentages and fractions are used to describe the fullness of the moon instead of using decimals? 4.Yahoo! includes the moon's phases in their weather data reports. Why are the moon's phases included in weather reports?https://weather.yahoo.com/ 5.Mathematics and Science often work hand in hand in making observations about the world we live in. Do you think that scientists should have a good background in basic math to perform their jobs satisfactorily? How effective would a meteorologist be if he or she didn't understand basic math concepts like decimals, fractions and percentages. Use the attached note taking sheet to record your responses to the questions located at the end of this page. |
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References:
Bright Enlightenment. (2012, December 26). YouTube. Retrieved July 26, 2014, from YouTube Web site: www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7PrVepWRPM
History. (2009, July 12). YouTube. Retrieved July 26, 2014, from YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXseTWTZlks
makemegenius. (2013, December 30). YouTube. Retrieved July 26, 2014, from YouTube Web site: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeaQctUp1c
Zero OneOne. (2007, October 10). YouTube. Retrieved July 26, 2014, from YouTube Web site: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vUObZwLJ8A
Bright Enlightenment. (2012, December 26). YouTube. Retrieved July 26, 2014, from YouTube Web site: www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7PrVepWRPM
History. (2009, July 12). YouTube. Retrieved July 26, 2014, from YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXseTWTZlks
makemegenius. (2013, December 30). YouTube. Retrieved July 26, 2014, from YouTube Web site: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeaQctUp1c
Zero OneOne. (2007, October 10). YouTube. Retrieved July 26, 2014, from YouTube Web site: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vUObZwLJ8A