Fractions and Percentages of Pirates

Goals:

  1. The students will describe a group in terms of fractions.
  2. The students will convert fractions into percentages.
  3. The students will recognize the percent changes of pirates throughout the novel Treasure Island.
  4. The students will draw conclusions regarding the captives' and pirates' way of thinking as the percentage of pirates decreased throughout Treasure Island. (Captives' and pirates' way of thinking will be described in the procedure.)

Resources:

  1. Copies of the novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson for each student
  2. Worksheet or examples of problems from student's math book or other reference material with fractions for the students. (E.g. - Fraction Action by David A. Alder, Holiday House 1996) Jelly Beans Paper Pencils

Time:

Depending on how much the students know prior to this lesson about fractions, the time frame could be anywhere from 1 to 3 hours.
 

Procedure:

  1. Students will have already read Treasure Island.
  2. If students are not familiar with fractions, the teacher can use direct instruction to explain the concept of breaking up a group of items into smaller groups. A great way to start this lesson is to give each student a handful of jelly beans. The students can group the jelly beans according to color. The process of finding fractions is a four step process: finding the total number of items within the group, breaking the entire group into its parts, counting the number of items in those parts and then creating the fraction with the part of the group value over the whole group value.
  3. Once students understand the concept of fractions, the students can hunt through the novel to find areas where they discuss how many characters were pirates and how many were not.
  4. Students can calculate the percentage of pirates versus the total number of characters at certain times throughout Treasure Island. Finding percentages is a two step process once the students have the fractions. Using the fractions, divide the numerator by the denominator. Take that answer and multiply by 100 to get the percentage.
  5. The students will compare their findings at different stages during Treasure Island.
  6. If students have not learned the concept of percentages, the teacher can present a direct instruction lesson of converting fractions to percentages.
  7. Students can convert their findings to percentages and compare their results to other students' results.
  8. Use this information (Percentages and Fractions) to discuss the change in mentality of the people on the island. Captive and pirate mentality might entail some of the following characteristics: people's choices for which side to join, people's confidence levels pertaining to finding the treasure. The students should base these conclusions on the fractions and percents and the characters' actions from the book. Following the discussion, the students will write a journal entry drawing conclusions about the changes in people's mentality as the fractions and percentages changed.

Assessment:

  1. The student will hand in their calculations of fractions. (Criteria for success - Show the six steps to finding fractions and percentages. The six steps to finding fractions are as follows:
    • Finding the correct number of people at various times during Treasure Island
    • Breaking the total number of people into two groups: captives and pirates
    • Inserting the number of pirates or captives into the numerator
    • Summing the total number of people, captives and pirates, and placing that number in the denominator
    • Dividing the numerator by the denominator to get an answer in the form of a decimal
    • Multiplying that decimal by 100 to calculate the correct percentage
Credit will be given for each successful step. Steps one and six will be given ten percent of the total grade while steps two through five will be given twenty percent of the total grade. Credit for the correct answer will be given minimal emphasis because if a student does not find the correct total number of people, but does the procedure correctly, the student will not calculate the correct answer. However, the emphasis of this lesson is to understand and document the procedure. If students start with the wrong number of pirates or captives and do the procedure correctly, they should be considered successful.) See steps two and four in the procedure for more information regarding the steps to finding percentages.
  1. The students will write a journal entry. (Criteria for success = Students will use examples of fractions and percentages they calculated to explain in their own words the changes in the characters' mentality in Treasure Island. Teacher's comments on the journal entries would be greatly beneficial for the students.)

Curricular Strands and Major Concept:

  1. Language Arts - Reading the novel Treasure Island and creating a journal entry by drawing conclusions from fractions and the novel's context clues..
  2. Math - Calculating fractions and percentages from clues in Treasure Island.

Possible Extensions:

  1. Have students write their own story problems that involve fractions and percentages.
  2. This lesson can be replicated with any novel or movie that contains changes in the numbers involved in groups. (E.g. - The movie: Alive)


     

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