Aim:
- to understand the concept of exponent
- to understand the concept of fractional exponent or square/cube root
- to be able to calculate the exponent number
Concept: exponent/ power/ index, root/ base, standard form, factor form, square and cube, word form.
So what is exponent?
Have you ever seen a thing which is multiplied by itself, from just one then it multiply become two the multiply by two become 4, multiply by two and it become 16 and so on. Just by seeing the image of bacteria or cell above, you have seen the concept or the idea of exponent.
Yes, Exponent is repeated multiplication. And the math concepts for the image above can be written like this:
2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 16 or you can say 2 to the power of 4.
To teach/l earn about this you can use manipulatives or hands on activities such as blocks,by making the real model of the exponent just like the bacteria images above. Start with two blocks and think this as the base, then multiply by two, and add 2 blocks, then you multiply again, until you get 2^4 or two to power of four which is 16 in total.
Another way to see exponent as real life context is, to learn squares (x^2), you should design geometrical squares that have the dimensions x by x. Similarly, you can make x^3 exponents by having design x by x by x cubes. This activity will help students integrate the practicality of exponents into their own lives.
http://www.mathsisfun.com/exponent.html
Then do some activities by yourself by choose number in random from 1 to 10 and put the power of 2 and 3 and count them.
have fun with Exponent!