Grade 7 - Patterns and Relations (Patterns)

PRESCRIBED LEARNING OUTCOMES

It is expected that students will:

• create formulas for finding area, perimeter, and volume
• predict and justify the nth value of a number pattern

To view the prescribed learning outcomes for Patterns and Relations (Patterns) in other grades click on an icon below.

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Review/introduce standard units of measure (e.g., cm for linear measure, cm² for area, cm³ for volume). Have students bring in food containers, such as candy boxes, cereal boxes, and tetrapaks. Have them use centimetre cubes to determine the volume of the different containers. Record the class data on a table.

  Object	Length	Width	Height	Volume
  Cereal Box

  
  

  As a class, have students discuss and remeasure any disputed measurements to find solutions that all agree on. Then have them examine the table to generate the formula for volume. Two possibilities: Build one layer of cubes and add the number of layers it would take to fill one of the containers, or build one row of cubes along the length, width, and height and use this information to compute the total number of cubes required to fill the container.

• Using colour tiles, model the following sequence of shapes for students:
  
  Have students build the next three shapes and record the number of tiles in each construction. Then ask them to look at the pattern and predict how many tiles might be in the twentieth figure. Discuss ways to find out.

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

Observe

• Ask students to determine the volume of a container, write down their solutions, and then tell how they arrived at their answers. Look for logic or a system in their solutions. Probe to find out if they are able to generalize their solutions to other structures and to recognize how their solution relates to other methods of determining volume.
• Note how different students describe growth patterns during a whole-class discussion. Look for pattern recognition, the logic of student predictions, and students' inclination to generalize or make connections. After many growth-pattern investigations in which students extend a pattern and find a formula to describe it, ask students to complete a learning log entry: What I learned about growth patterns. Note which students are able to offer clear, logical explanations that include generalizations and connections beyond the immediate activity.

• About Teaching Mathematics
• Discovery Kit - Double Tangrams
• Games in the Teaching of Mathematics
• Historical Connections in Mathematics
• Interactions 7
• Linking Mathematics and Language: Practical Classroom Activities
• A Mathematical Pandora's Box
• Mathematical Reasoning Through Verbal Analysis: Book 2
• Mathpower Seven
• Minds on Math 7
• Nelson Canadian School Mathematics Dictionary
• Problem Of The Day

• Focus on Fractals
• Mathematics: What Are You Teaching My Child?

• The Logic Box
• Mathville

Previous Organizer Next Organizer