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Subject

Mathematics (NYS P-12 Common Core)

Description

Oil spills are in the news. To make real-world connections, this lesson provides hands-on experiences with mixing oil and water, provides surface area information about the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and gives students opportunities to estimate small oil spills of their own making.

Resource

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Oil Oil Everywhere

Content Provider

Illuminations

Illuminations is a project designed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and supported by the Verizon Foundation. NCTM serves as a content partner for Thinkfinity, the Verizon Foundation's free online professional learning community, where Illuminations is the primary contributor of resources for teaching and learning mathematics for grades pre-K—12. Connect and collaborate with over 70,000 educators though Thinkfinity! Share resources, join discussions and participate in special interest groups.

Related Academic Standards

New York State

3.NF.1 Understand a fraction 1/b as the quantity formed by 1 part when a whole is partitioned into b equal parts; understand a fraction a/b as the quantity formed by a parts of size 1/b.

3.MD.2 Measure and estimate liquid volumes and masses of objects using standard units of grams (g), kilograms (kg), and liters (l).6 Add, subtract, multiply, or divide to solve one-step word problems involving masses or volumes that are given in the same units, e.g., by using drawings (such as a beaker with a measurement scale) to represent the problem.

3.MD.4 Generate measurement data by measuring lengths using rulers marked with halves and fourths of an inch. Show the data by making a line plot, where the horizontal scale is marked off in appropriate units- whole numbers, halves, or quarters.

3.MD.6 Measure areas by counting unit squares (square cm, square m, square in, square ft, and improvised units).

3.G.2 Partition shapes into parts with equal areas. Express the area of each part as a unit fraction of the whole. For example, partition a shape into 4 parts with equal area, and describe the area of each part as 1/4 of the area of the shape.

4.MD.2 Use the four operations to solve word problems involving distances, intervals of time, liquid volumes, masses of objects, and money, including problems involving simple fractions or decimals, and problems that require expressing measurements given in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit. Represent measurement quantities using diagrams such as number line diagrams that feature a measurement scale.

5.NF.3 Interpret a fraction as division of the numerator by the denominator (a/b = a / b). Solve word problems involving division of whole numbers leading to answers in the form of fractions or mixed numbers, e.g., by using visual fraction models or equations to represent the problem. For example, interpret 3/4 as the result of dividing 3 by 4, noting that 3/4 multiplied by 4 equals 3, and that when 3 wholes are shared equally among 4 people each person has a share of size 3/4. If 9 people want to share a 50-pound sack of rice equally by weight, how many pounds of rice should each person get? Between what two whole numbers does your answer lie?