Estimation Exploration
10 min
Narrative
The purpose of an Estimation Exploration is for students to practice the skill of estimating a reasonable answer, based on experience and known information. It gives students a low-stakes opportunity to share a mathematical claim and the thinking behind it (MP3). Asking: “Does this make sense?” is a component of making sense of problems (MP1), and making an estimate or a range of reasonable answers with incomplete information is a part of modeling with mathematics (MP4).
In this activity, students are given information about a parking garage along with pictures of its interior and exterior. Invite students to share their estimates and the assumptions they used to make them. For example, students may share how they used the photos to estimate how many floors there were and how many cars could fit on each floor. They may share the assumptions they made that, based on the pictures, there are 10 floors and each floor holds the same amount of cars.
Launch
- Groups of 2
- Display image.
Teacher Instructions
- “What is an estimate that’s too high? Too low? About right?”
- 1 minute: quiet think time
- 1 minute: partner discussion
- Record responses.
Student Task
Here are pictures showing the exterior and the interior of a parking tower in Wolfsburg, Germany. The parking is automated—each car goes up on a lift and is then placed in a parking space.
How many cars can fit in the tower?
Record an estimate that is:
| too low | about right | too high |
|---|---|---|
Sample Response
Sample responses:
- Too low: 100–200
- About right: 400–500
- Too high: 700–800
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
- “What assumptions did you make about the parking garage to make your estimate?”
- “What information would help you make a more accurate estimate?”
- Consider revealing the actual number of cars in the structure, which is 400. The parking structure has 20 stories and 20 cars per story.
Standards
- 4.OA.A·Use the four operations with whole numbers to solve problems.
- 4.OA.A·Use the four operations with whole numbers to solve problems.
10 min
15 min
10 min
Knowledge Components
All skills for this lesson
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Estimation Exploration
10 min
Narrative
The purpose of an Estimation Exploration is for students to practice the skill of estimating a reasonable answer, based on experience and known information. It gives students a low-stakes opportunity to share a mathematical claim and the thinking behind it (MP3). Asking: “Does this make sense?” is a component of making sense of problems (MP1), and making an estimate or a range of reasonable answers with incomplete information is a part of modeling with mathematics (MP4).
In this activity, students are given information about a parking garage along with pictures of its interior and exterior. Invite students to share their estimates and the assumptions they used to make them. For example, students may share how they used the photos to estimate how many floors there were and how many cars could fit on each floor. They may share the assumptions they made that, based on the pictures, there are 10 floors and each floor holds the same amount of cars.
Launch
- Groups of 2
- Display image.
Teacher Instructions
- “What is an estimate that’s too high? Too low? About right?”
- 1 minute: quiet think time
- 1 minute: partner discussion
- Record responses.
Student Task
Here are pictures showing the exterior and the interior of a parking tower in Wolfsburg, Germany. The parking is automated—each car goes up on a lift and is then placed in a parking space.
How many cars can fit in the tower?
Record an estimate that is:
| too low | about right | too high |
|---|---|---|
Sample Response
Sample responses:
- Too low: 100–200
- About right: 400–500
- Too high: 700–800
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
- “What assumptions did you make about the parking garage to make your estimate?”
- “What information would help you make a more accurate estimate?”
- Consider revealing the actual number of cars in the structure, which is 400. The parking structure has 20 stories and 20 cars per story.
Standards
- 4.OA.A·Use the four operations with whole numbers to solve problems.
- 4.OA.A·Use the four operations with whole numbers to solve problems.