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).
Launch
Groups of 2
Display the expression.
“What is an estimate that’s too high? Too low? About right?”
1 minute: quiet think time
Teacher Instructions
“Discuss your thinking with your partner.”
1 minute: partner discussion
Record responses.
Student Task
9,953÷37
Record an estimate that is:
too low
about right
too high
Sample Response
Sample responses:
Too low: 100–200
About right: 200–300
Too high: 300–400
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
“How do you know 100 is too low?” (Because 100×37=3,700 and that’s much less than 9,953.)
“How can you use the value of the product 100×37 to estimate the value of 9,953÷37?” (I know that 9,953 is more than 2×3,700 but less than 3×3,700 so the quotient is more than 200 but less than 300.)
Standards
Addressing
5.NBT.6·Find whole-number quotients of whole numbers with up to four-digit dividends and two-digit divisors, using strategies based on place value, the properties of operations, and/or the relationship between multiplication and division. Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models.
5.NBT.B.6·Find whole-number quotients of whole numbers with up to four-digit dividends and two-digit divisors, using strategies based on place value, the properties of operations, and/or the relationship between multiplication and division. Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models.
20 min
15 min
Knowledge Components
All skills for this lesson
No KCs tagged for this lesson
More Division
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).
Launch
Groups of 2
Display the expression.
“What is an estimate that’s too high? Too low? About right?”
1 minute: quiet think time
Teacher Instructions
“Discuss your thinking with your partner.”
1 minute: partner discussion
Record responses.
Student Task
9,953÷37
Record an estimate that is:
too low
about right
too high
Sample Response
Sample responses:
Too low: 100–200
About right: 200–300
Too high: 300–400
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
“How do you know 100 is too low?” (Because 100×37=3,700 and that’s much less than 9,953.)
“How can you use the value of the product 100×37 to estimate the value of 9,953÷37?” (I know that 9,953 is more than 2×3,700 but less than 3×3,700 so the quotient is more than 200 but less than 300.)
Standards
Addressing
5.NBT.6·Find whole-number quotients of whole numbers with up to four-digit dividends and two-digit divisors, using strategies based on place value, the properties of operations, and/or the relationship between multiplication and division. Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models.
5.NBT.B.6·Find whole-number quotients of whole numbers with up to four-digit dividends and two-digit divisors, using strategies based on place value, the properties of operations, and/or the relationship between multiplication and division. Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models.