Grade Levels: 6-8

*Click to open and customize your own copy of the Standard and Scientific Notation Lesson Plan.

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Standard and Scientific Notation. It supports the standard of performing operations with numbers expressed in scientific notation, including problems that use both decimal and scientific notation. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Ask students:

  • What do you already know about exponents? How do they affect a number?
  • When might it be helpful to use an exponent in real life?

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Assign Standard and Scientific Notation Quiz, prompting students to apply essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about standard and scientific notation while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

  • Make-a-Movie: Produce a tutorial explaining the meaning of the exponent in scientific notation. Include example expressions. 
  • Make-a-Map: Create a concept map sequencing the steps to convert a number from standard to scientific notation.
  • Creative Coding: Code a math problem involving scientific notation. Challenge a classmate to solve.

More to Explore 

Related BrainPOP Topics: Deepen understanding of standard and scientific notation with these topics: Exponents, Multiplying and Dividing Exponents, and Polynomials.

Teacher Support Resources:

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments