Scientific notation Self Study lesson plan

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Teachers often feel quite burdened by the syllabus. However there are topics that can be left for the students to learn on their own, with some smart strategy on the part of the teacher. 
One such topic is Scientific Notation. 
If you do not wish to teach it directly, this is what you do!


Set clear objectives:
At the end of this lesson, you should know:  

  1. How to convert a number to scientific notation/standard form.   
  2. And the reverse, converting a number back to normal form.

Give the students a clear task sheet. 
Preferably email to them do they can go to the required websites directly. The task sheet language should be SO clear that they don't have to come back to you with questions. (It is hard...took me 2 years to refine my language)

 Mine went like this:

  1. Go to the site. 
  2. Learn about Scientific Notation
  3. Open the site 2. 
  4. Read and understand the information on scientific notation. 
  5. Scroll down and play the quiz to test your understanding. 
  6. Suppose you were the person who discovered scientific notation. Write a short story describing the discovery.
a)      Why did you discover it?
b)      What inspired you?
c)      Explain conversion to scientific notation using examples
d)      How do you think it can help?
e)      Who does it help?

Give them extra sites for reference:
You can go to the following sites to help find the relevant information:      1 OR 2  
    
ALWAYS have a timeline. 
It gives boundaries to the students.

  • The story should be typeset in a word document and emailed to me by 9 pm today!         
Give the rubric. 
That also gives the students a good boundary.
Rubric: 15 marks total. 

  • 5 for the language of the story
  • 5 for the accuracy of the scientific notation examples. 
  • 5 for managing the timeline
Always end with an assessment
Students have worked on their own. So there needs to be a short assessment at the end on pen and paper to ascertain learning. That would also take care of the test prep. This can be a short one with 2 questions only too. 5 to 10 minutes. 

 What are the skills involved?

  1. Time management
  2. Story writing
  3. Information processing
  4. Self learning
  5. Self discipline





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