TI-AIE: Creative thinking in mathematics: proportional reasoning

What this unit is about

Life without a sense of proportion is difficult to imagine – it is present in all actions of enlargement and reduction. It is used in the home when thinking about the ingredients for cooking for ten people instead of six. It is used in urban planning when thinking about building plans. It is used by policymakers when considering issues of taxation. It is even used by young children, perhaps implicitly, in working out how many sweets to get for several people or how to share a bag of marbles amongst friends.

Students therefore come to school with some intuitive understanding and knowledge of proportional reasoning, but they also come with misunderstandings and different levels of understanding.

This unit will explore ways to teach proportional reasoning, including inverse and direct proportion in a playful and creative way.

What you can learn in this unit