Essentials of Mathematics 10 -
Rates, Ratio and Proportion

This sub-organizer contains the following sections:
Prescribed Learning Outcomes
Suggested Instructional Strategies
Suggested Assessment Strategies
Recommended Learning Resources

PRESCRIBED LEARNING OUTCOMES

It is expected that students will apply the concepts of rate, ratio and proportion to solve problems

It is expected that students will:

• use the concept of unit rate to determine the best buy on a consumer item and justify the decision
• solve problems on the application of sales tax in Canada
• describe a variety of sales promotion techniques and their financial implications for the consumer
• solve rate, ratio, and proportion problems involving length, area, volume, time, mass, and rates derived from these

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

The ability to make financial decisions based on calculations of unit rate, percent taxes, and discounts, and to calculate rates such as fuel consumption are important real-life skills.

• Have students, using information in grocery flyers, calculate unit prices and make price comparisons in order to identify the best buy.
• Brainstorm items that students would be interested in purchasing. Have students choose an item from the list and collect advertising data on prices and features. Have them select what they believe is the best deal offered and justify their decision. Ask them to calculate the actual cost of the item, including sales tax. Using a given value for hourly take-home pay, students find the number of hours they would need to work to earn enough money to buy the item.
• Ask students to select a retail item to purchase (e.g., mountain bike, snowboard). Based on a reasonable hourly rate of pay, ask them to calculate, taking deductions into account, how many hours they would have to work to purchase the item.
• Using a recipe for waffles for four people, guide students in determining the amounts of ingredients that would be needed to make waffles for 20 people.

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

As rate, ratio, and proportion are often difficult concepts, assessment should focus on students’ abilities to apply appropriate strategies to solve problems.

Observe

• As students work in pairs on problems, observe the extent to which they show their understanding through their discussions on how to proceed to solve them.

Collect

• Have students make a poster showing a chart indicates the varying number of servings for waffles and the resulting changes in ingredient amounts.

Self Assessment

• Develop with students methods for testing their solutions by applying common sense, estimation and reasoning.

Peer Assessment

• Have students solve problems, showing all their work. Ask them to exchange solutions and use keys to mark each other’s work. Students can identify the errors in their peers’ solutions and explain the errors and how to fix them.

Discussion

• Provide a list of problems and ask students to identify which of them can be solved using rate, ratio, and/or proportion strategies.

RECOMMENDED LEARNING RESOURCES

Comprehensive learning resources for this course are currently under development. As an interim measure, schools are encouraged to use the teacher-developed learning resources distributed to schools (student and teacher resources). Please note that the student materials require photocopying for student use.

Software

• Hot Dog Stand: The Works

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Maintained by: Mathematics Coordinator
Revised: November 22, 2000

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