Transformation 2013

PBL 5E
Planning Form
Guide
Design Challenge Title: The “Ins and Outs” of Functions

Teacher(s):Cassandra Ricks

School: Education Service Center, Region XIII

Subject: Algebra 1

Abstract: In this design challenge, students will learn the foundations

for functions. They will also write and solve word problems involving
functions.

MEETING THE NEEDS

OF STEM EDUCATION
THROUGH PROBLEM
BASED LEARNING

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 Begin with the End in Mind
The theme or “big ideas” for this PBL:

Students will develop a basic understanding of functions and patterns drawn from
functions, reflecting on how numbers behave, rather than just using them in
computations.

TEKS/SEs that students will learn in the PBL:

(A.1) Foundations for functions. The student understands that a function represents a
dependence of one quantity on another and can be described in a variety of ways.
The student is expected to:
(A) describe independent and dependent quantities in functional relationships;
(B) gather and record data and use data sets to determine functional
relationships between quantities;
(C) describe functional relationships for given problem situations and write
equations or inequalities to answer questions arising from the situations;
(D) represent relationships among quantities using concrete models, tables,
graphs, diagrams, verbal descriptions, equations, and inequalities; and
(E) interpret and make decisions, predictions, and critical judgments from
functional relationships

Key performance indicators students will develop in this PBL:

Develop vocabulary (functions, independent and dependent variables, equations, input,

output, domain, range), create tables, find patterns, create rules for functions, write and
solve word problems

21st century skills that students will practice in this PBL:

www.21stcenturyskills.org
Critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration

STEM career connections and real world applications of content learned in this PBL:

Careers: Retail management, science, architecture, education, personal finance,

investments
Connections: Patterns are found all around us and people use patterns everyday to guide
their work.

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The Problem
You work for “Mathematics Today” publishing company and have been asked to assist in
writing real-world problems for their new project-based learning textbook. The unit that
you and your team have been assigned to is “Foundations for Functions”. Your first task
will be to review the concepts behind functions to deepen your understanding of the
concepts. You will then write a series of five (5) word problems to be incorporated into
the unit that your team has been assigned. By the way, the book is being sent to the
publisher next week, so you don’t have much time. Let’s get started!

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Map the PBL
Taught Taught
Already before the during the
Performance Indicators Learned project project

1. Vocabulary: function, dependent, independent, equations, X X

input, output, table, patterns, domain, range
2. How to create tables X X

3. How to find patterns and create rules for functions X X

4. Concrete understanding of functions and their application in X X

real-world scenarios
5. Write and solve word problems X X X

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 5E Lesson Plan
PBL Title: The “Ins and Outs” of Functions
TEKS/TAKS objectives: A1, 8.14, 8.15, 8.16
Engage Activity

Ask the students to complete the following statements:

What goes up must ______________ (come down).
For ever action, there is _____________ (an equal but opposite reaction).
For every input, there is ___________ (an output).

We will be focusing on functions, which are nothing more than inputs and outputs, over
the next few class periods through a design challenge.

You work for “Mathematics Today” publishing company and have been asked to assist in
writing real-world problems for their new project-based learning textbook. The unit that
you and your team have been assigned to is “Foundations for Functions”. Your first task
will be to review the concepts behind functions to deepen your understanding of the
concepts. You will then write a series of five (5) word problems to be incorporated into
the unit that your team has been assigned. By the way, the book is being sent to the
publisher next week, so you don’t have much time. Let’s get started!

Introduce the students to the web sites that they will be using for the review portion of the
design challenge and define the products of the Engage Activities (see below).

Engage Activity Products and Artifacts

Students will work in teams by creating tables of values using the large chart paper and
markers to document input and output from the Shodor web site. They will also develop
a rule for each pattern. Students will share their information with the rest of the class.

Students will complete the quiz at the end of each brain pop video.

Engage Activity Materials/Equipment

Computer Lab, Internet Access, Large Chart Paper, Markers

Engage Activity Resources

http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/FunctionMachine/?version=1.6.0_02&bro
wser=MSIE&vendor=Sun_Microsystems_Inc.
http://www.brainpop.com/math/dataanalysis/problemsolvingusingtables/
http://www.brainpop.com/math/dataanalysis/wordproblems/

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Explore Activity
Have the students work in pairs or teams to complete the explore activity (see attached
guide).

Explore Activity Products and Artifacts

Students will use large chart paper and markers to record the results of their
investigations. They will also identify the “rule” that is created by each table.

Explore Activity Materials/Equipment

Attached Explore Guide, Large Grid Paper, Markers

Explore Activity Resources

Explore Guide

Explain Activity

Have the students present their findings from the Explore Activity to the rest of the class.
Upon the conclusion of all group presentations, have the students discuss observations,
ideas, questions, and hypotheses with the rest of the class. Act as the facilitator, clear up
any misunderstandings, and broaden the students vocabulary base…input (independent
variable), output (dependent variable), function, rule, patterns, tables, equations,
domain, range. During the discussion, create a word wall for the students to be able to
refer back to during the project. Have the students reflect in their journal regarding the
concepts and vocabulary that have been discussed during the Explain phase.

Explain Activity Products and Artifacts

Word Wall, Journal

Explain Activity Materials/Equipment

Journal, pencil, word wall, construction paper, markers

Explain Activity Resources

None

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Elaborate Activity

Share an example of an exemplar word problem involving functions (see attached

exemplar word problem). Work through the word problem with them, and model how
you would create this particular word problem.

Provide the students with a list of “real-world” examples of how patterns are used in
business, design, education, etc (see attached list for a starting point). Ask the students if
they can think of other areas in which patterns are used to guide work. Make a list of
their responses and post them in the classroom to be used as ideas for “starting points”.

Ask the students to work together to create their five (5) pattern problems to be submitted
to the publishing company. Students will type up their problems to submit to teacher and
then students will create large posters of their 5 problems to post in the classroom.

Elaborate Activity Products and Artifacts

List of real-world examples, 5 problems to be submitted to publishing company

The teacher will need to work through all of the problems to determine whether or not
the problems work and solutions to the problems.
Elaborate Activity Materials/Equipment

Exemplar word problem, real-world application list, large grid paper, markers,
computers, word processing program, scratch paper, pencils
Elaborate Activity Resources

None

Evaluate Activity

Have the students create posters of their five (5) respective word problems, and ask them
to post them around the classroom. Re-group the students in pairs and assign them two
word problems per group (assuming that the original group size was 4 and the class size
is 16…adjust to meet your students’ needs). The students must be assigned to problems
that were not created by their original groups. Have the students work through their
assigned problems (documenting on a flow chart) and present their findings to the class.
Have them talk about what they discovered, whether or not the problems worked, what
types of patterns emerged, and whether or not they got the right answer. If the problems
did not work, why didn’t they? What could have been done differently so that the
problem would work?

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 Evaluate Activity Products and Artifacts

Presentation, assigned problems, flow charts for problem solving, write-up regarding the
word problems they were assigned, and report back on assigned problems

Evaluate Activity Materials/Equipment

Exemplar word problems posted around the classroom, scratch paper, pencils
Evaluate Activity Resources

None

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 Explore Activity

1. Supply the missing entries in the following tables. Then write out a rule for each
table that tells what to do with the input to get the output. Express each rule in
sentence form; for example, “The output is one more than three times the input.”
Be as clear as you can. Also, identify the domain and range for each function.
Record the table, your results, and your rule on a large piece of grid paper and be
prepared to share your results with the class.

Input (x) Output (y) Input (x) Output (y) Input (x) Output (y)
2 4 2 7 House 4
3 6 4 13 Cup 2
11 22 7 22 Writer 5
27 ? 10 31 Elephant 7
? 18 12 ? Spin ?
? 50 ? 76 Mathematics ?
? 3
? 8
? 0

Input (x) Output (y) Input (x) Output (y)

3 Division I
Ever E
11 Opportunity O
Toast A
Safe E
15 People O
Mathematics ?
? A
? 7
Internet ?

2. Create two (2) input/output tables based on rules of your own. Plan your tables below,
and write your final tables on two (2) separate sheets of large grid paper. Be sure to write
your rule in pencil on the reverse side of your grid paper.

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 3. Assuming the pattern continues in the same way, build the next one. Describe verbally
the 10th one. How many cubes would you need to build the 10th one? The 20th one? Can
you generalize for any building number? How do you know? Record your responses
below, and then record them on large grid paper to share with the rest of the class.

1 2 3

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 Exemplar Word Problem Example
Cassandra’s Chocolate

Have you ever really been in the mood to eat chocolate? There are some pretty amazing things
that can get in the way of that pursuit.

Cassandra was walking home from work one cool afternoon. She had just bought a big bag of
chocolate candies and was going home to share them with her daughter…Alexandra loves
chocolate, too. On the side of the road, she saw two people collecting food for nursing home
residents. Well, Cassandra decided that she had quite a few pieces of chocolate in her bag, and
she and Alexandra really didn’t need that much chocolate.

“Here,” said Cassandra, “you can have half of my chocolate for the nursing home residents.”
The people were very happy to get all of that chocolate. Cassandra thought for a moment and
then said, “Aw, take one for each of yourselves, too.” So there went two more.

As Cassandra continued walking, her son, Caleb, and his friend, Michael, came riding up on their
bikes. They saw the bag of chocolate that she had and asked if they could have some, too. They
pleaded, “We are so-o-o hungry. We really need a snack. Pleaaaase!”

As you might imagine, Cassandra was a very understanding mother who just couldn’t resist her
baby boy’s face. She handed her bag to the boys and they took half of the chocolate and then,
just as they were about to hand the bag back, they took two more.

Cassandra thought that she had enough chocolate left to make Alexandra happy, so she
continued walking home.

As you may have already guessed, Cassandra didn’t get very far before she had another
encounter. Just before she reached home, her friend Stephanie approached. After exchanging
greetings, Stephanie explained that she was on her way to get some chocolate for her family, but
was in a bit of a rush because her son, Jaden, had soccer practice in 30 minutes.

Generosity took over Cassandra and she found herself saying, “Why don’t you save yourself a
trip and take some of my chocolates? As you can see, I’ve got several.” So Stephanie took half
of what Cassandra had in the bag then two more.

Cassandra finally finished her walk home without further interruption. When she opened the
once bulging bag of chocolates, she discovered that there were only two left. She had one
chocolate and Alexandra had one chocolate and then there were none!

After supper, Alexandra asked her mother how many chocolates were in the bag to begin with.
Cassandra told her the story of her walk and then said that if Alexandra could figure it out
herself, Cassandra would take her to the park the next day.

Alexandra took awhile, but she figured it out and got her park outing. What was Alexandra’s
answer?

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Once you have found your answer, work on extending the problem and exploring different
values when Cassandra gets home, like 0, 1, 3, 4, or 5. Assume that everything else in the
problem remains the same except for the ending number of chocolates. Use the blank space
below to work through the process and create an input/output table.

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 Functions in the Real World

Patterns are found all around us and people use patterns everyday to guide their work. Here are
some examples of when patterns are used.

Retail Management:
Managers look at trends from the previous year at the same time period to decide how much staff
is needed to support the number of customers who will be shopping during the current work
week.

Architecture:
Architects look at form versus function when designing buildings, the use of materials and their
failure rates, planning where plumbing will go, patterns in landscaping, patterns in shapes, etc.

Educators:
Educators look at patterns in TAKS data and use it for staff allocation, focusing on areas of
strengths and weaknesses, class size, scheduling, etc.

Personal:
Parents look at cell phone usage patterns to determine the best, most economical rate plans to
meet their teenagers’ needs.

Teenagers look at gas prices, miles per gallon, use of air conditioning, speeding, etc. to budget
for price increases as seen in patterns.

Scientists:
Scientists look at patterns in nature to determine coastline erosion, volcanic cycles, the number
of hurricanes that could occur this year, increases in deer populations, etc.

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Plan the Assessment
Engage Artifact(s)/Product(s): Tables, BrainPOP Quizzes

Explore Artifact(s)/Product(s): Completed Explore Activity on large grid paper

Explain Artifact(s)/Product(s): Vocabulary word wall, Journal entry regarding the key
concepts behind functions

Elaborate Artifact(s)/Product(s): List of real-world examples to use as problem starters,

five (5) real-world word problems using functions

Evaluate Artifact(s)/Product(s): Presentation, assigned problem flow charts with

solutions, write-up regarding the word problems they were assigned, report back on the
assigned word problems

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Rubrics
Scoring Rubric Word Problems
4 points
_____ Completely explains steps to solve the problem.
_____ Shows all work for solving the problem
_____ Uses a problem solving method
_____ Includes clear, simple, well- labeled diagrams
_____ Includes all the needed formula(s)
_____ Includes correct solution WITH labels
_____ Uses complete sentences with capitals and punctuation
_____ Word problems are flawless, understandable, and applicable to real-world scenarios

3 Points
_____ Completely explains the steps to solve the problem
_____ Shows most of the work for solving the problem
_____ Uses four of the 5 steps of our problem solving process
_____ Includes a diagram of the plan which may contain some inaccuracies (inc labels,
dimensions, etc)
_____ Includes most needed formula(s)
_____Solution is nearly correct WITH labels
_____ Uses complete sentences with some mechanical errors
_____ Word problems have some mechanical errors, but are understandable, and applicable to
real-world scenarios

2 points
_____ Attempts to explain the steps for solving the problem
_____ Shows some work
_____ Uses 3 of the 5 step problem solving process
_____ Includes a diagram which does may not correspond to the problem
_____ Includes some formula(s), however, some may be wrong
_____ Solution is nearly correct WITHOUT labels
_____ Uses some sentence fragments with some mechanical errors
_____ Word problems have errors, are difficult to understand, but an attempt at applicable real-
world scenarios is made

1 point
_____ Does not attempt to explain the steps of the solving the problem
_____ Shows no work
_____ Does not use the 5 step problem solving process
_____ No diagram included

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_____ No formula(s) are uses
_____ Solution has many errors
_____ Uses many sentence fragments and mechanical errors
_____ Word problems are full of errors, not understandable, and are not applicable to real-world
scenarios

Adapted from:
http://traverschool.badger.k12.wi.us/jennifer%20schaible/wordproblemrubric.html

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 http://www.nden.k12.wi.us/tlcf/prob3.htm
MATH PROBLEM-SOLVING RUBRIC
Given a story problem, the student will use appropriate strategy to find the solution and use graphs and/or
tables to illustrate and explain.
MINIMAL(1) BASIC(2) PROFICIENT(3) ADVANCED(4)
Understands The Student can't read Student can Student can read Student reads
Problem problem- not sure read problem- problem, pulls out problem, pulls out
what to do. can pull out numbers and numbers and uses
numbers, not operation may or correct operation.
sure what to may not be correct.
do.
Computation Pulls out numbers Pulls out Pulls out numbers Pulls out numbers,
which may or numbers, operation correct, operation and answer
may not be operation and answer may or may are correct.
correct. answer may or not be correct.
may not be
correct.

Use of Tables/Graphs Unsure of Knows Knows numbers Knows numbers

numbers numbers involved and involved and put into
involved, can't involved, table/graph to use, table/graph correctly.
demonstrate how unsure of table may or may not be
to use in /graph to use. completed correctly.
table/graph.
Explanation Cannot explain Unclear, not Clear with some Clear, concise, and
why he/she did concise, or appropriate math uses appropriate
what they did. incomplete. language, not math language.
concise.
Satisfies All Does not satisfy Satisfies all Satisfies all Satisfies all
Requirements requirements of requirements of requirements of the requirements of the
the problem. problem, problem, answer problem with correct
answer may or partially correct. answer.
may not be
correct.
SCORE TOTAL _________

Scoring Process Basic: 10-14,

Advanced: 19 -20 no more than one area with a score of 1.
Proficient: 15 -18 Minimal: score<10
No score of 2 in any area.

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Story Board
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
 Engage:  Explain:  Elaborate:  Elaborate:  Evaluate:
Introduction Present Students Students use Students
of DC, findings write 5 teacher solve
Shodor from Explore word feedback to assigned
website Activity, problems to improve word
activities, Interactive be turned in word problems,
BrainPOP Discussion by the end problems (45 make
website (30 minutes) of class (90 minutes) presentations
activities (45  Elaborate: minutes)  Evaluate: incorporating
Week 1 minutes) Real-world  Teacher Students flow charts
Activities  Explore: 3 examples, works all create and
problem Exemplar word posters of evaluation of
activity (45 Word problems their word the word
minutes) Problem (60 and problems to problems
minutes) provides post they were
feedback to throughout assigned (90
student classroom minutes)
groups next (45 minutes)
class

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