This lesson takes the learner through a series of exercises where the ability to understand ratios and calculate unit cost will help the learner make optimal, well-reasoned, cost-effective purchasing decisions. The target audience is the adult learner (preferably with school-age children) working in the Grade D range (6th-8th grade) and with RP Domain (Ratios and Proportional Relationships). Learners will benefit by seeing the relationship that mathematical concepts have to their everyday lives by using mathematical reasoning to make better purchasing decisions. Mastery of this material will help learners demonstrate readiness for higher-level algebraic concepts.

This lesson unit is intended to help you assess whether students recognize relationships of direct proportion and how well they solve problems that involve proportional reasoning. In particular, it is intended to help you identify those students who: use inappropriate additive strategies in scaling problems, which have a multiplicative structure; rely on piecemeal and inefficient strategies such as doubling, halving, and decomposition, and have not developed a single multiplier strategy for solving proportionality problems; and see multiplication as making numbers bigger, and division as making numbers smaller.

This lesson unit is intended to help you assess how well students are able to: solve simple problems involving ratio and direct proportion; choose an appropriate sampling method; and collect discrete data and record them using a frequency table.

This lesson unit is intended to help teachers assess how well students are able to interpret percent increase and decrease, and in particular, to identify and help students who have the following difficulties: translating between percents, decimals, and fractions; representing percent increase and decrease as multiplication; and recognizing the relationship between increases and decreases.

This lesson unit is intended to help teachers assess whether students are able to: identify when two quantities vary in direct proportion to each other; distinguish between direct proportion and other functional relationships; and solve proportionality problems using efficient methods.

The CyberSquad tests which broom can travel the furthest in five seconds in this video from Cyberchase.

This lesson unit is intended to help assess how well students are able to interpret and use scale drawings to plan a garden layout. This involves using proportional reasoning and metric units.

Students write the relationship between two fractions as a unit rate and use unit rates and the constant of proportionality to solve problems involving proportional relationships.Key ConceptsIn situations where there is a constant rate involved, the unit rate is a constant of proportionality between the two variable quantities and can be used to write a formula of the form y = kx.A given constant rate can be simplified to find the unit rate by expressing its value with a denominator of 1.The ratios of two fractions can be expressed as a unit rate.Goals and Learning ObjectivesExpress the ratios of two fractions as a unit rate.Understand that when a constant rate is involved, the unit rate is the constant of proportionality.Use the unit rate to write and solve a formula of the form y = kx.

Students create equations, tables, and graphs to show the proportional relationships in sales tax situations.Key ConceptsThe quantities—price, tax, and total cost—can each be known or unknown in a given situation, but if you know two quantities, you can figure out the missing quantity using the structure of the relationship among them.If either the price or the total cost are unknown, you can write an equation of the form y = kx, with k as the known value (1 + tax), and solve for x or y.If the tax is the unknown value, you can write an equation of the form y = kx and solve for k, and then subtract 1 from this value to find the tax (as a decimal value).Building a general model for the relationship among all three quantities helps you sort out what you know and what you need to find out.Goals and Learning ObjectivesMake a table to organize known and unknown quantities in a sales tax problem.Write and solve an equation to find an unknown quantity in a sales tax problem.Make a graph to represent a table of values.Determine the unknown amount—either the price of an item, the amount of the sales tax, or the total cost—in a sales tax situation when given the other two amounts.

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students examine how to use fractions to measure and help conserve freshwater resources.

Students analyze the graph of a proportional relationship in order to find the approximate constant of proportionality, to write the related formula, and to create a table of values that lie on the graph.Key ConceptsThe constant of proportionality determines the steepness of the straight-line graph that represents a proportional relationship. The steeper the line is, the greater the constant of proportionality.On the graph of a proportional relationship, the constant of proportionality is the constant ratio of y to x, or the slope of the line.A proportional relationship can be represented in different ways: a ratio table, a graph of a straight line through the origin, or an equation of the form y = kx, where k is the constant of proportionality.Goals and Learning ObjectivesIdentify the constant of proportionality from a graph that represents a proportional relationship.Write a formula for a graph that represents a proportional relationship.Make a table for a graph that represents a proportional relationship.Relate the constant of proportionality to the steepness of a graph that represents a proportional relationship (i.e., the steeper the line is, the greater the constant of proportionality).

Four full-year digital course, built from the ground up and fully-aligned to the Common Core State Standards, for 7th grade Mathematics. Created using research-based approaches to teaching and learning, the Open Access Common Core Course for Mathematics is designed with student-centered learning in mind, including activities for students to develop valuable 21st century skills and academic mindset.

Lesson OverviewStudents calculate the constant of proportionality for a proportional relationship based on a table of values and use it to write a formula that represents the proportional relationship.Key ConceptsIf two quantities are proportional to one another, the relationship between them can be defined by a formula of the form y = kx, where k is the constant ratio of y-values to corresponding x-values. The same relationship can also be defined by the formula x=(1k)y , where 1k is now the constant ratio of x-values to y-values.Goals and Learning ObjectivesDefine the constant of proportionality.Calculate the constant of proportionality from a table of values.Write a formula using the constant of proportionality.

Students have an opportunity to review their own work on the Self Check in the previous lesson, consider feedback that addresses specific aspects of their work, examine a different approach to the problem from the Self Check, and then use what they learned to solve a closely related problem.Key ConceptsStudents reflect on their work, review and critique student work on the same problem, and then apply their learning to solve a similar problem.Goals and Learning ObjectivesUse teacher comments to refine their solution strategies for a proportional relationship problemDeepen their understanding of proportional relationships.Synthesize and connect strategies for representing and investigating proportional relationships.Critique given student work involving proportional relationships.Apply deepened understanding of proportional relationships to a new problem situation.

Students represent and solve percent decrease problems.Key ConceptsWhen there is a percent decrease between a starting amount and a final amount, the relationship can be represented by an equation of the form y = kx where y is the final amount, x is the starting amount, and k is the constant of proportionality, which is equal to 1 minus the percent change, p, represented as a decimal: k = 1 – p, so y = (1 – p)x.The constant of proportionality k has the value it does—a number less than 1—because of the way the distributive property can be used to simplify the expression for the starting amount decreased by a percent of the starting amount: x – x(p) = x(1 – p).Goals and Learning ObjectivesDetermine the unknown amount—either the starting amount, the percent change, or the final amount—in a percent decrease situation when given the other two amounts.Make a table to represent a percent decrease problem.Write and solve an equation to represent a percent decrease problem.

Students represent and solve percent increase problems.Key ConceptsWhen there is a percent increase between a starting amount and a final amount, the relationship can be represented by an equation of the form y = kx where y is the final amount, x is the starting amount, and k is the constant of proportionality, which is equal to 1 plus the percent change, p, represented as a decimal: k = 1 + p, so y = (1 + p)x.The constant of proportionality k has the value it does—a number greater than 1—because of the way the distributive property can be used to simplify the expression for the starting amount increased by a percent of the starting amount: x + x(p) = x(1 + p).Goals and Learning ObjectivesDetermine the unknown amount—either the starting amount, the percent change, or the final amount—in a percent increase situation when given the other two amounts.Make a table to represent a percent increase problem.Write and solve an equation to represent a percent increase problem.

Students connect percent to proportional relationships in the context of sales tax.Key ConceptsWhen there is a constant tax percent, the total cost for items purchase—including the price and the tax—is proportional to the price.To find the cost, c , multiply the price of the item, p, by (1 + t), where t is the tax percent, written as a decimal: c = p(1 + t).The constant of proportionality is (1 + t) because of the structure of the situation:c = p + tp = p(1 + t).Because of the distributive property, multiplying the price by (1 + t) means multiplying the price by 1, then multiplying the price by t, and then taking the sum of these products.Goals and Learning ObjectivesFind the total cost in a sales tax situation.Understand that a proportional relationship only exists between the price of an item and the total cost of the item if the sales tax is constant.Find the constant of proportionality in a sales tax situation.Make a graph of an equation showing the relationship between the price of an item and the total amount paid.

Students look at the relationship between the number of flags manufactured and the stars on the flag and determine whether it represents a proportional relationship.Key ConceptsThe form of the equation of a proportional relation is y = kx, where k is the constant of proportionality.A graph of a proportional relationship is a straight line that passes through the origin.The constant of a proportionality in a graph of a proportional relationship is the constant ratio of y to x (the slope of the line).Goals and Learning ObjectivesIdentify the constant of proportionality in a proportional relationship based on a real-world problem situation.Write a formula using the constant of proportionality.Analyze a graph of a proportional relationship.Make a graph and determine if it represents a proportional relationship.Identify the constant of proportionality in a graph of a proportional relationship.

This problem can be solved in more than one way. The choice in solution method may reflect the comfort and mathematical sophistication of the student.

Parts (a) and (b) of the task ask students to find the unit rates that one can compute in this context. Part (b) does not specify whether the units should be laps or km, so answers can be expressed using either one.