Use knowledge of equivalence when scaling factors to solve problems

I can solve problems using equivalence by scaling factors.

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Year 6

Use knowledge of equivalence when scaling factors to solve problems

I can solve problems using equivalence by scaling factors.

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Share activities with pupils

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Lesson details

Key learning points

When one factor is scaled and the other is scaled down by the same amount, the product remains the same.
Scaling one factor up and the other down by the same amount maintains equivalence.
Factorising means describing a product using factors that multiply together.

Keywords

Equivalent - Equivalent means having the same value.
Factor - A factor is a number which exactly divides another whole number.
Product - The product is the result when two or more numbers are multiplied together.

Common misconception

Pupils may struggle to know what to add if just one of the factors changes.

Refer to 'lots of' when discussing calculations. For example, if pupils know that 3 × 84 = 252, then 3 × 85 must be 3 more. 3 × 84 is '84 lots of 3' and 3 × 85 is '85 lots of 3'

Pupils need to have a reasonable grasp of scaling numbers by 3, 4, 5 and 10 before this lesson. Encourage pupils to think about tests of divisibility, using their times tables. In Cycle B, encourage them to use different solutions to generate other answers.

Teacher tip

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).