Ratios are one of the fundamental mathematical concepts that students need to learn and understand. Schools have various ways to teach ratio tables, which is an effective way for students to understand ratio relationships. However, not every student enjoys sitting in a classroom and working through worksheets. To help make the concept of ratio tables more engaging, educators can incorporate more hands-on and interactive activities into their lesson plans.
Here are some activities that educators can use to teach students about ratio tables.
Creating a visual ratio table
One of the best ways to help students understand the concept of ratio tables is by creating a visual representation. Provide students with objects like blocks, balls, or counters. Ask them to create two groups with unequal objects count and then find out the ratio between both groups.
Next, ask students to organize and represent the information in a table with the two groups’ respective number values of objects.
This activity helps students see the ratio relationship between the numbers in a more tangible way. It also helps them understand how ratio tables work.
Interactive quizzes and games
Interactive quizzes and games can be helpful in teaching students the concept of ratio tables. After lessons, teachers can organize quizzes, Kahoot, or other games that allow students to interact with the content they learned. Since the questions are timed with catchy music and animations, students often find it exciting, thus, retaining the knowledge.
Real-life scenarios
Applying the concept of ratio tables to real-life scenarios can help students understand better. Teachers can ask students to explore scenarios that involve ratio relationships, such as a recipe that needs to be scaled up or down. Students may use ratio tables to determine how many ingredients are necessary to feed different numbers of people.
Another example of a real-life scenario is asking students to calculate the gear ratio of a bicycle or a car, or how much water and sand need to make bricks of a specific weight.
Online simulation activities
Online simulation activities can be effective tools for reinforcing students’ understanding of ratio tables. They can access these activities on mathematical websites like Math Playground, Mathletics, or online resources like BBC Bitesize. These activities provide real-life scenarios to apply the ratios concept to solve problems that students couldn’t find in their textbooks.
In conclusion, a good teacher is an innovative one. Teachers must not limit their teaching to textbook problems, make their teaching engaging by incorporating different activities into their lesson plans. Using exciting hands-on activities to teach ratio tables can make learning more enjoyable for students, leading to increased comprehension and retention.
