Exponents Lesson Plan: Number and Operations

*Click to open and customize your own copy of the Exponents Lesson Plan.

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Exponents, and supports the standards of using whole-number exponents to denote powers of 10, and writing and evaluating numerical expressions involving whole-number exponents. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of creative projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Display expressions involving numbers in base 10, like these:

10 x 10 = 100

10 x 10 x 10 = 1,000

10 x 10 x 10 x 10 = 10,000

10 x 1/10 = 1

10 x 1/100 = 0.1

10 x 1/1,000 = 0.01

Ask students: 

• How does multiplication affect a number? How does division affect a number?
• How are the numbers 10 and 0.1 related? 
• Do you notice any patterns in the numbers above? Explain.

Step 2: BUILD BACKGROUND

• Read aloud the description on the Exponent  Topic Page.
• Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding. 
• Have students read one of the following Related Reading articles: “In Practice” or “In Depth”. Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.
  

Step 3: APPLY

Students synthesize their ideas and express them through one or more of the following creative projects. They can work individually or collaborate.  

• Make-a-Movie: Imagine you invest $2.00 in an account that doubles your money each week. Create a tutorial explaining how much money you would have after 10 weeks.
• Make-a-Map: Make a concept map identifying quantities that are best measured with either positive or negative exponents, such as the number of cells in your body or the diameter of a red blood cell. 
• Creative Coding: Code a math problem that uses exponents.

Step 4: REFLECT & ASSESS 

Reflect: After sharing creative projects with each other, students reflect on what they’ve learned about exponents. Prompt them by asking questions such as: 

• How do exponents relate to multiplication and division?

• Why might you represent a quantity with a positive exponent? Why might you use a negative exponent?

• What is the exponential form of 1,000,000? 

• How can you represent 5 x 5 x 5 x 5 with an exponential expression?

Assess: Wrap up the lesson with the Exponents Quiz. 

Step 5: Extend Learning

Continue to build understanding around number and operations concepts with BrainPOP’s Numbers and Operations topics, games, and teacher resources.