NCDPI – AIG Instructional Resource: Background Information

Resource Title: Gas Price Dilemma
Subject Area/Grade Level(s): Math/5 / Time Frame: 1 class period
Common Core Standard Addressed:
Number and Operations in Base Ten
Understand the place value system.
5.NBT.3 Read, write, and compare decimals to thousandths.
5.NBT.4 Use place value understanding to round decimals to any place.
Mathematical Practices
3.  Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
6.  Attend to precision.
Additional Standards Addressed: NA
Brief Description of Lesson/Task/Activity: Students will analyze data regarding regular grade fuel prices from 1992 to the present in order to identify patterns and infer possible reasons for changes in fuel prices.
Type of Differentiation for AIGs (include all that apply): x Enrichment Extension Acceleration
Adaptations for AIGs: x Content Process x Product
Explanation of How Resource is Appropriate for AIGs: Students in grade 5 are required to compare decimal numbers to the thousandths and operate on decimal numbers to the hundredths. This task allows students the opportunity to explore decimal numbers to the thousandths in a meaningful context. It also allows students to explore the idea of rounding decimal numbers and consider the idea that gasoline prices are represented by decimal numbers to the thousandths, while our currency allows for amounts to the hundredths.
Needed Resources/Materials:
•  Task sheet
•  Data representing fuel prices over time
Sources: http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=emm_epmr_pte_r10_dpg&f=m
TEACHER NOTES: NA

NCDPI AIG Curriculum Resource Outline

STAGE ONE: ENGAGE
The teacher should assess students’ understanding of and level of experience with gas prices by facilitating a brief class/group discussion. Questions to encourage discourse…
1.  How do your parents decide where to purchase fuel?
2.  What is the lowest gas price you’ve seen? What time of year was it?
3.  While at the pump with your parents, what have you noticed about gas prices?
4.  What businesses and industries are impacted by the price of gas?
5.  Why do you think fuel prices are often discussed by adults you may know and by the media?
STAGE TWO: ELABORATE
Present students with the task sheet: Natalie, a fifth grade student, develops a set of questions she has regarding fuel prices. She is motivated by her inability to contribute to family dinner conversations regarding change in gas prices over time. Provide students with a set (or multiple sets) of data presenting gas prices for at least the past 10 years. You may choose to use the data provided in the sources section. Once students have had a moment to look over the data, pose the question…
·  After the dinner conversation, Natalie began paying close attention to gas prices as she passed by gas stations. She noticed that some weeks stores changed their prices several times, while other weeks the prices remained the same. Looking at the data confused her a bit, as it presents 1 price for each month. She asked her parents how this could be when she couldn’t recall a time when the price stayed the same the whole month. What do you think her parents’ response was? Where does the one number per month come from?
·  After students have had time to discuss the idea that the one price per month in the data is the mean/average, have them begin answering Natalie’s set of questions. Encourage students to look for patterns, drastic changes, and outliers in the data, and draw conclusions regarding possible causes. As students work through Natalie’s questions, encourage them to develop a set of their own questions regarding the data and then discuss them as a group.
STAGE THREE: EVALUATE
Evaluation of student responses should focus primarily on the math, as ability to make reasonable inferences depends on student access to previous discussions and interactions with gas prices. The activity could be extended by having students take the data and task home to promote discussion with their parents.
TEACHER NOTES: NA

PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF NORTH CAROLINA State Board of Education | Department of Public Instruction AIG ~ IRP Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project