Percents
Strand: Number
Outcome: 3
Step 1: Identify Outcomes to Address
Guiding Questions
- What do I want my students to learn?
- What can my students currently understand and do?
- What do I want my students to understand and be able to do, based on the Big Ideas and specific outcomes in the program of studies?
See Sequence of Outcomes from the Program of Studies
Big Ideas
Percent is:
- a different notation and terminology for the known concept hundredths
- "when the decimal identifies the hundredths position as the units, the word percent can be specified as a synonym for hundredths. Thus, 0.659 (of some whole or 1) is 65.9 hundredths or 65.9 percent of the same whole … the notion of placing the decimal point to identify the percent position is conceptually more meaningful than the apparently arbitrary rule: 'To change a decimal to a percent, move the decimal two places to the right.' A better idea is to equate hundredths with percent both orally and in notation" (Van de Walle and Lovin 2006, pp. 119–120).
- a way to write a fraction with a denominator of 100
- strongly connected to fraction and decimal concepts
- best linked to fractions and decimals by the use of models such as base 10 blocks, number lines, fraction strips, 10 × 10 grids and area models
- "particularly useful when comparing fractional parts of sets or numbers of unequal size," including percents less than 1% and greater than 100% (NCTM 2000, p. 217)
- frequently used in problem-solving situations encountered in every day life.
The exploration of relationships amongst fractions, decimals and percents develops number sense. Number sense means “having intuition about or a flexible understanding of numbers" (Van de Walle and Lovin 2006, p. 113).
Grade 8
