Natassia Piccolo

Lynbrook School District: South Middle School

Formal Lesson: Equivalent Ratios (2-day lesson)

I. Goals: Students will complete a hands-on activity in which they will be able to reason proportionally
and determine equivalent ratios in an authentic manner. Students will follow four different
orange juice/seltzer recipes and determine mathematically which recipe will result in a stronger
orange taste.

II. Objectives: Students will be able to:

Understand ratio concepts and use ratio reasoning to solve problems

Use their knowledge of ratios and rates to reason proportionally in a realistic context.
Create a mixture of orange juice and seltzer and determine which recipe will have a stronger
orange taste.
Analyze proportional relationships and use them to solve real-world math problems
Choose an appropriate strategy to solve proportions
Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
Reason abstractly
Construct viable arguments to justify their reasoning

III. Common Core State Standards

Mathematics Grade 6 - Module 1 Focus Standards: 6.RP.A.1, 6.RP.A.2, 6.RP.A.3

IV. Vocabulary:

Ratio
Rate/Unit Rate
Proportion
Ratio Table
Equivalent Ratios

V. Materials:

Containers of orange juice

Containers of seltzer water
Plastic cups
Measuring cups
Pitchers
Mixing spoons

VI. Procedure: DAY 1

 1. Motivation/Anticipatory Set: Introduce the orange juice problem by creating a story in which
students are in charge of making a delicious fizzy punch for a Halloween party. The recipe
requires a mixture of orange juice and soda, but there are different ratio measurements that may
change the taste. Students must determine which recipe will have the most delicious taste and
which recipe has the most orangey/least orangey taste.

2. Give students a worksheet displaying four different recipes.

3. Students will answer the questions below, based on their knowledge of rates, ratios, and
proportions.

a. Which recipe will make the fizzy

punch taste the most orangey?
Explain.

b. Which recipe will make the fizzy

punch taste the least orangey?
Explain.

4. Discuss students responses and hypothesis.

Students will share their reasoning before conducting the actual experiment.

5. EXPERIMENT ACTIVITY: Students will be working in four groups of approximately six

students. Each group will have the following materials: an observation sheet to record data, a
pitcher, a measuring cup, orange juice/seltzer water to measure, a mixing spoon, and small cups
for tasting. Each group will be instructed to make one of the following mixtures: Mixture A, B, C,
or D. Each group will mix the orange juice and seltzer water according to their designated recipe
using measuring cups and mixing spoons. Once each group has created their mixture, students
will travel to each group, tasting the different orange mixtures. Students will record their
observations on their observation worksheet, describing the differences between each mixture and
which mixture tastes more or less orangey to them.

VII. Closure:

Students will clean up their work space. Share and discuss students observations for each orange
juice mixture. Students will compare their original hypothesis to their observation sheet to see if
they were correct.

DAY 2
Materials:

Large Post-its
Markers

Procedure:

1. Students will get into the same groups as the day before. Each group will have 5 minutes to
discuss their taste-test observations.

2. Students will then work with their group to prove mathematically which mixture has the stronger
orange taste. Groups may choose to create a ratio table, show the unit rate, or find a common
denominator for each mixture to prove which mixture has the stronger taste. Students will first
show their work individually on their observation sheet and then they will work together to display
their work on large Post-its using colored markers.

3. Formative Assessment: Students will spend half of the class period proving which mixture has
the stronger orange taste and creating their poster. Once groups have completed their posters, each
group will present their work to the class.

Closure:

Although students may have a different opinion on their favorite mixture taste, each group will be
able to determine that Mixture A has the most orangey flavor because it has the largest orange to
soda ratio and Mixture B has the least orangey flavor because it has the smallest orange to soda
ratio.