Lesson: Internet in the Sky

Review fact families with students. Remind them that a fact family is a set of four equations that shows the relationship between three numbers. The equations include inverse operations, and they can be written using addition and subtraction or multiplication and division. Provide students with a few sets of three numbers and have them write the fact families for each (e.g., 12, 96, 8; 4.25, 6.05, –1.8). Then tell students that fact families are one way to help us understand the use of inverse operations for solving one-step equations.

Play the video. Then ask the following questions:

• What is the video mainly about? (In places with low internet connectivity, like Kenya, huge balloons flying in the air are providing internet connectivity to the areas they fly over.)

• The video gives some specific examples of how internet connectivity will help Kenyans. Can you describe some of these? (Possible answers: Students will be able to take virtual classes; patients will be able to talk to their doctors remotely; farmers will have access to weather patterns and new agricultural research.)

Hand out or digitally distribute the “Word Search” literacy skills sheet to each student. Have students read the article individually and record any unfamiliar words. Then have a volunteer read the first paragraph of the article aloud. Model how to fill out the skills sheet with the word stratosphere. Continue having volunteers read the article aloud as students fill out their skills sheet to help define the unfamiliar words they identified earlier. Allow a few volunteers to share their words and definitions with the class.

Read through the introduction and example of the “Solving One-Step Equations” box on page 7. Ask students what word in the example problem indicates that the situation requires multiplication (times). Then ask what operation is needed to solve the equation (division, because it is the inverse of multiplication). Have volunteers read each of the “Your Turn” questions aloud. After each question, have students think-pair-share about what word in the problem indicates which operation should be used. Then have students work in pairs or independently to solve the “Your Turn” questions. Remind them to check their work by substituting the variable’s value in the equation.

Teach students how to solve two-step equations. Tell them that when solving these equations, they work backward. Complete a class example and ask: Which operations will we need to use to isolate the variable? Which order should we perform them in, and why?

Have students think about how they access the internet and from which devices. Then ask: Do you know what a cyberattack is? Read the article “You’ve Been Hacked” from our friends at Science World. Then have students write a paragraph in response to the following question: Has your view of internet-connected gadgets changed after reading the article? If so, how? If not, why?

Have students visit the website cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ke.html to learn more about Kenya. Ask them to use the numerical facts and statistics to write their own one-step equation problems modeled after the “Your Turn” questions.