This unit has two essential questions:
- How can we use patterns to effectively teach each other abstract math rules?
- How does scientific notation help us measure and compare quantities in the real world?
As students work to understand the mathematical rules that govern the behavior of exponents and numbers written in scientific notation, they will be asked to figure out patterns that give order and reason to those abstract rules. Using those patterns as explanations, students will teach each other how to make sense of the rules. In this way, students will embark on a unit-long discovery process of how to simplify exponential expressions and expressions with scientific notation. While students work through this, they will also explore the relevance of scientific notation in the world around them.