SAGE 2014
GRADE 12 ESSENTIAL MATH
Shawn Sadler
Sorting Units

Rank the course units in order of “what the
students should know after high school”
Course and Materials Intent
SAGE 2014 – Grade 12 Essential Math
Questions

What is the purpose of Grade 12
Essential Math?
 What
are the strengths of the course?
 What are the weaknesses of the course?

Who is taking this course?
 What
are their skills like?
 What are their needs?
Resources and Materials

Why did I make my own materials from
scratch* for this course?
* Note: materials liberally inspired by other teachers and “borrowed” from
provincial exams.
Challenges
Not enough resources
 Textbook does not cover whole course
 Students struggle with the exam

Good things
Grade 12 Essential Math is actually useful
content!
 Provincial exam is actually pretty good

Goal 1
Prepare students for life
after high school.
Goal 2
Prepare students for the
provincial exam.
Curriculum Documents
SAGE 2014 – Grade 12 Essential Math
Curriculum Documents
Curriculum vs. Exam


Match exam questions
to achievement
indicators
Is the question an
“explain” or “calculate”
question?
Curriculum vs. Real Life



Which topics from each
unit are important for
real life?
What is the “big idea”?
Where/why do they
need this in real life?
Report Back
What patterns did you see?
 What questions are expected on the
exam?
 What important “real life” topics should
be there but aren’t?

Engagement

How do we get students to realize how
this stuff is important for real life?
The Provincial Exam
SAGE 2014 – Grade 12 Essential Math
Units on Exam
Precision Measurement
 Statistics
 Home Finance
 Vehicle Finance
 Geometry and Trigonometry
 Probability

Explain Questions

Many Achievement Indicators in the
curriculum state “Explain ______”
 Roughly
1/3 of the exam is “explain
questions”
Precision Measurement
Explain precision, accuracy, tolerance or
uncertainty
 Write or use tolerance
 State precision/uncertainty

Statistics

Mean, median, mode
 (calculate
and explain)
Weighted Mean
 Trimmed Mean
 Percentile Rank

 (calculate
and explain)
Home Finance
One-time moving costs
 Land Transfer Tax
 Ownership and maintenance costs
 Home Insurance
 Property Tax
 Mortgage payments

 (may
include amortization table)
GDSR
 Owning vs. Renting

Vehicle Finance
Leasing vehicle (total cost, residual)
 Base, sticker, total cost, taxes (new and used)
 Repairs, parts and labour
 New vs. Used
 Finance vs. Lease
 Depreciation
 Loan payments, interest paid
 Car Insurance
 Fuel Efficiency

Geometry and Trigonometry

Solve triangle using Sine Law
 With

context and diagram
Solve triangle using Cosine Law (with
context)
 With
context and diagram
Properties of triangles or quadrilaterals
 Properties of polygons (𝑛 ≥ 5)

Probability
Write probability (in different forms)
 Write odds, translate to/from probability
 Expected Value
 Explain probability/odds
 Experimental vs. Theoretical probability

Study Sheets
SAGE 2014 – Grade 12 Essential Math
Characteristics of an Effective Study
Sheet
Well Structured and Organized
 Has the required formulas and examples
in the students’ own words
 Doesn’t contain too much information
 Doesn’t have their name on it

Study Sheets
The process of creating the sheet is more
important than the sheet itself
 Students will need to be taught how to create
an effective study sheet

 Use
study cards throughout the course
 Give a short lesson with tips for an effective
study sheet
 Force them to create their own and don’t allow
photocopied sheets
 Provide exemplars of good and poor sheets
How did I structure the course?
SAGE 2014 – Grade 12 Essential Math
Goals
Prepare students for real life
 Prepare students for the exam
 Do.

Major Portfolio Project
Career Life
Home Finance
Vehicle Finance
Wrap-up
Career Life Project
Goal: Find a suitable career
 Parts:
1. Myers-Briggs and Multiple Intelligences
2. Career goal
3. Job for next year and backup plan

Home Finance Project

Goal: find a house that suits the career
they have chosen
 Affordability
and location
Parts:
1. Affordability and needs/wants
2. Find a house
3. Mortgages
4. Moving and ongoing costs

Vehicle Finance Project
Goal: find a vehicle they can afford
 Parts:
1. Affordability and needs/wants
2. Find a new car
3. Find a used car
4. Fuel use and owning costs

Wrapup Project
Goal: combine parts of project to a
“snapshot” of what students’ life might be
like in 5-10 years.
 Parts:
1. Budget
2. Analysis

Other Projects

Probability Project: Create a game of
chance
 Includes
super-awesome-fun carnival!
Other Projects

Trigonometry Project: Build a gazebo!
 Or
porch, to connect from Grade 11 Essential
Math
Unit Order
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Career Life
Precision Measurement and Statistics
Home Finance
Probability and Business Finance
Geometry and Trigonometry
Vehicle Finance
Career Life Wrap-up
Resources Structure

Notes:
 Introduce
one new exam topic at a time
 Short, frequent examples

Assignments:
 One
topic at a time, logical progression
 Include questions from old exams

Quizzes:
 Frequent,
short.
 Check for students
Precision Measurement and Statistics
SAGE 2014 – Grade 12 Essential Math
Unit Structure

Mutually supporting topics
 Measure

stuff, then do stats about them.
Do!
 No
big projects, lots of smaller activities.
Unit Outline
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Measure Lego Do!
Accuracy/precision notes
Measuring the human body Do!
Tolerance notes
Do!
Lego tolerance
Central tendency notes and activity
Trimmed and weighted means
Percentile Rank
Exam Topics
Do!
Resources

You can find these resources online at:
shawnsadler.weebly.com/sage-2015.html

Or talk to me to get these resources on a
USB stick