Lesson Title: Intro to Scientific Notation
Date: _____________ Teacher(s):
Course: Common Core Mathematics 8
Start/end times: _________________________
Lesson Objective(s): What mathematical skill(s) and understanding(s) will be developed? Which Mathematical
Practices do you expect students to engage in during the lesson?
8.EE.A.3 Use numbers expressed in the form of a single digit times an integer power of 10 to estimate very
large or very small quantities, and to express how many times as much one is than the other. For example,
estimate the population of the United States as 3  10 8 and the population of the world as 7  109 , and
determine the world population is more than 20 times larger.
MP4:
MP6:
MP7:
MP8:
Model with mathematics.
Attend to precision.
Look for and make use of structure.
Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
Lesson Launch Notes: Exactly how will you use
the first five minutes of the lesson?
Display the following on the board:
This text message is too long to send. Write how
you would fix this message so that Michael can
send it to Mr. Miller.
Lesson Closure Notes: Exactly what summary
activity, questions, and discussion will close the
lesson and provide a foreshadowing of tomorrow?
List the questions.
Exit Ticket
Hello Mr. Miller,
I cannot do the mathematics homework. Can you
please help?!
Thank You,
Michael
Lesson Tasks, Problems, and Activities (attach resource sheets): What specific activities, investigations,
problems, questions, or tasks will students be working on during the lesson? Be sure to indicate strategic
connections to appropriate mathematical practices.
1. Warm-Up Discussion: After students have had time to use short-hand/text-lingo to shorten the text
message, discuss why we shorten words, phrases, and names (Example: We don’t say American
Football League- we say the “AFC”).
2. Tell students that mathematicians and scientists have thought this way long before texting came to be.
Sometimes numbers are too long (large or small) to say and/or write. We have developed ways to
efficiently write very large or very small numbers.
3. Give students real-life examples of numbers.
The age of the Earth is about 4,540,000,000 years old
The mass of a helium atom is 0.000000000000000000000007 grams.
The distance from the sun to the earth is 149, 597, 870.7 kilometers (92,955,887.6 miles).
4. Ask students to say each number to a partner (students will most likely look very confused).
Acknowledge their frustration by telling them that you want them to figure out a way to make these
numbers easier to say and write. Allow a few moments for students to work in pairs to write the
numbers provided in as many ways as they can (expanded form, in words, using powers). Lastly,
discuss as a class what students have done. (MP4)
5. Introduce how to write really big and small numbers in scientific notation using negative and positive
exponents (consider reviewing the powers of ten starting with 1,000 and go down to -1,000 to confirm
HCPSS Secondary Mathematics Office (v2); adapted from: Leinwand, S. (2009). Accessible mathematics: 10 instructional shifts that raise student
achievement. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Lesson Title: Intro to Scientific Notation
Date: _____________ Teacher(s):
Course: Common Core Mathematics 8
Start/end times: _________________________
10 to the power of 0 is 1 and so on). (MP8) Make a chart with the standard number in the left column
and the scientific notation form in the right column. Next, have students predict how to translate the
examples in #3 into scientific notation. Address any misconceptions. For example, students may say
4,540,000,000 should be written as 4540  10 7 rather than 4.540  1010 . Show how these numbers are
equivalent, but how 4.540  1010 is the correct way to represent with scientific notation. (MP7) (MP6)
6. Distribute 10 or more note cards to each student. Allow students time to make a note card of a number
and another one that matches with the number in scientific notation.
7. Allow students to choose a word problem to solve. Then, have students pair up (groups of three are
fine, if needed) to discuss their solutions. Allow students to fix their solution, if needed.
8. Have one student per problem present the problem and their solution.
9. Exit Ticket
10. If there is extra time, use the Graphing Calculator Activity to preview upcoming lessons.
11. If there is extra time, try writing a really large or small number in an Excel spreadsheet (Example
9,700,000). Then, shrink the column (it will show up as 9.7E6). Ask your students what it means. See
if they notice the connection.
Evidence of Success: What exactly do I expect students to be able to do by the end of the lesson, and how
will I measure student mastery? That is, deliberate consideration of what performances will convince you
(and any outside observer) that your students have developed a deepened (and conceptual) understanding.
Students should be able to explain their reasoning to at least one other student. Students should be able to
complete the exit ticket. The teacher will circulate during student work and discussion to evaluate
understanding.
Notes and Nuances: Vocabulary, connections, common mistakes, typical misconceptions, etc.
Vocabulary: exponent, place value, power of ten, decimal, exponential
Prior Knowledge: Depending on the level of your students, you may need to review place value prior to
this lesson. Also, a review of powers of 10 prior to this lesson is a must. You may choose to review
quickly while doing the note sheet or through a full lesson beforehand. Again, the level of review will
depend solely on your students.
Depending on the level of your students, you may want to teach really large number with positive
exponents on day 1. Then, on day 2, teach really small numbers with negative exponents.
Common mistake: Students often move the decimal in the wrong direction when dealing with positive and
negative powers. Also, students forget to the move the decimal past the first non-zero digit (or count it) for
very small numbers.
Resources: What materials or resources are
essential for students to successfully complete the
lesson tasks or activities?
Homework: Exactly what follow-up homework tasks,
problems, and/or exercises will be assigned upon the
completion of the lesson?
Document Camera
Scientific Calculators
Word Problems
Note Cards
Ask a friend or family member, or search the internet,
to find where scientific notation will be helpful in
real life. Come ready to share.
HCPSS Secondary Mathematics Office (v2); adapted from: Leinwand, S. (2009). Accessible mathematics: 10 instructional shifts that raise student
achievement. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Lesson Title: Intro to Scientific Notation
Date: _____________ Teacher(s):
Course: Common Core Mathematics 8
Start/end times: _________________________
Possible Extension:
http://illuminations.nctm.org/Reflections_912.html (Connects exponents to Alice In
Wonderland- how she doubles in size each time
she eats an ounce of cake. Also, shows how a
teacher facilitates discussion.)
Lesson Reflections: How do you know that you were effective? What questions, connected to the lesson
standards/objectives and evidence of success, will you use to reflect on the effectiveness of this lesson?
How will I know that my students understand scientific notation?
What will I do to address the needs of students that are still struggling?
How will I effectively transition to operations with scientific notation?
Howard County Public Schools Office of Secondary Mathematics Curricular Projects has licensed this
product under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
HCPSS Secondary Mathematics Office (v2); adapted from: Leinwand, S. (2009). Accessible mathematics: 10 instructional shifts that raise student
achievement. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.