Scripture: Genesis 5-9
Learning Objectives:
- Students will review the story of Noah
- Students will learn/review the concepts of multiples and fractions of sizes (twice as big, half as big, etc.)
- Students will participate in an activity designed to help them practice determine how to make things larger (in multiples) or smaller (fractional) than the original object
Guiding Question: How can we make something that is just like the original item, only the new item is a multiple of the original size or a fraction of the original size?
Materials: Legos, rulers, paper, pencils
Procedure: Review the story of Noah, focusing especially on the measurements God gave Noah. Ask students what might have happened if Noah had decided to make the Ark one half as big as God told him to build? Tell students that sometimes we need to make something exactly like an original, only much smaller or much larger. Teach (or review with) students how to take the original measurements and multiply each measurement by the amount of increase or reduction (Ex 2 for twice as large or ½ for half as large) in order to get the new measurements needed. Have students divide into pairs. Students should take turns building a small “Ark” with LEGOS. (To keep it simple, for the moment have students only focus on the length measurement.) Have the student who did not build the “Ark” use paper and pencil to decide what size the “Ark” would need to be if it were twice (or ½ or 3 times, etc.) as large as the original. After they have calculated the answer, they can build the new “Ark” and then measure both “Arks” to determine if the answer were correct.
Additional Question: What other measurements in your “Ark” would need to change to make the new Ark exactly the same only larger or smaller?
Supplemental Activity: Repeat the activity above, only this time students must calculate the new measurements for length, width and height. (Note: To keep students from doing more complex math, all of the “Arks” should be exact rectangles and resemble a box shape.)