Working with fractions, ratios, percents
Cloth tape measure, metric if possible
Explain how to add fractions with unlike denominators. Give an example of an average of fractions. Explain that they must record their work carefully as it will be collected.
Have the students work in a group of three to four to measure the distance from the ground to their belly button and the distance from their belly button to the top of their head. Have each person in each group write out their upper over their lower as a fraction.
Have each group add their fractional results. They are to then take the sum, still expressed as a fraction, and multiply by the 1/number of people in the group.
Collect the group results and post on the board. As homework the students are to find the average of the problems on the board by adding the fractions and then multiplying by one over the number of fractions. This final result can be converted to a decimal using a calculator. Micronesian students are likely going to most comfortable in single sex groups.
This ratio is theoretically, for mehnwai, close to the Fibonacci ratio: the ratio between two consecutive Fibonacci numbers. Although this exercise is not covered in these materials, the students had previously worked out the Fibonacci ratio.
Developed by Dana Lee Ling with the support and funding of a U.S. Department of Education Title III grant and the support of the College of Micronesia - FSM. Notebook material ©1999 College of Micronesia - FSM. For further information on this project, contact dleeling@comfsm.fm Designed and run on Micron Millenia P5 - 133 MHz with 32 MB RAM, Windows 95 OS.