LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE – Classroom Interactions – Spring 2014

Teach Dates: March 24, 2014 and March 26, 2014

Names of Student(s) teaching: Caitlyn Hanson and Tommy Trinh
Teach Time/Per: 90 minutes per day
Big Idea/Enduring Understanding for the Lesson: Combinations, Permutations, using the counting principles
TEKS for the lesson:
§111.42. Precalculus
(c) Knowledge and skills.
(1) Mathematical process standards. The student uses mathematical processes to acquire and demonstrate mathematical
understanding. The student is expected to:
(A) apply mathematics to problems arising in everyday life, society, and the workplace;
(B) use a problem-solving model that incorporates analyzing given information, formulating a plan or strategy,
determining a solution, justifying the solution, and evaluating the problem-solving process and the reasonableness of
the solution;
(C) select tools, including real objects, manipulatives, paper and pencil, and technology as appropriate, and
techniques, including mental math, estimation, and number sense as appropriate, to solve problems;
(D) communicate mathematical ideas, reasoning, and their implications using multiple representations, including
symbols, diagrams, graphs, and language as appropriate;
(E) create and use representations to organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas;
(F) analyze mathematical relationships to connect and communicate mathematical ideas; and
(G) display, explain, or justify mathematical ideas and arguments using precise mathematical language in written or
oral communication.

§111.43. Mathematical Models with Applications

(8) Mathematical modeling in social sciences. The student applies mathematical processes to determine the number of
elements in a finite sample space and compute the probability of an event. The student is expected to:
(A) determine the number of ways an event may occur using combinations, permutations, and the Fundamental
Counting Principle;
Objective(s) - Write objective(s) in SWBAT form…
The SWBAT:
- Explain the difference between permutations and combinations.
- Define and calculate a factorial.
- Calculate the total possible outcomes using the equations for permutation and combination.

Assessment:
Students will be given a worksheet with questions to work on during the lesson as well as independent work questions. Independent
work will be scored with our rubric to decide whether the student has achieved the level desired. The rubric is based off of our
objectives for this lesson sequence.

Materials:
- Whiteboards (class set; already in classroom)
- Poster Paper (8; Written with each question to post on board)
- Expo markers and poster markers (class set of 15; provided in classroom)
- Name tags (15 stickers for day 1 and 2; we will provide)
- Cut outs of ice cream cones, scoops, and toppings (for the Amy’s Ice Cream problem in Day 2)
- Definition reference poster (with the definitions written on the poster)
- Handouts (all different/8 total): Definition, Exploration day 1, Exploration day 2, Horse race permutation,
Combination/Permutation, Factorials, Amy’s Ice Cream, and Post-assessment/Pre-assessment (class set; we will provide)

Safety Considerations:
- No specific safety concerns for the lesson.
- We will encourage a safe emotional and intellectual environment where students feel safe to ask questions and express their ideas
without feeling judged.
- In case of a fire, we will proceed with the school’s policy of quickly and orderly making our way out the nearest exit and waiting for
further instructions.
Overview of Activities: In the space below please provide a general overview of the various activities/events you will ask students
to engage in during the lesson. Please include the estimated time for each event.
Ex. Engage students by asking T/F questions about osmosis to pique curiosity and assess prior knowledge. Have students post
their responses on the board (15 min)

Combinations:
- Order does not matter
Permutations:
- Order does matter

Day 1:
Race (30-35)
Discuss Pattern/Factorial Worksheet (15)
Notation (10)
Worksheet (10)
Elaborate (10)
Exit Slip (10)

Day 2:
Pre Assess (10)
Race example- Finalists (15)
Introduce Combination formula (5-10)
Combination Worksheet (5-10)
Amy’s Ice Cream (25-30)
Independent Work (15-20)

Lesson Sequence Rationale / Things to Think About

Consider the questions below as you plan your lesson. Give a brief response to each to question as a way to clarify your
thinking and provide your reviewers with insight into the reasoning behind your lesson planning

1. How did you decide on this lesson sequence and why do you feel this sequence will support student learning?
Reading Lawson’s (2002) article, we decided to use the 5E lesson plan. For our past lesson plan, we implemented a
combination of the 5E and Madeleine Hunter's 7 Step lesson plan. But when we taught it, it felt more generated towards a
5E. The 5E will support student learning because it allows students to explore and explain to their work to each other. When
we asked the students what they liked best about the previous lesson, it was this element of group collaboration and
explanation to the class that they liked best.
2. What are the big ideas of this lesson and how/when will they be expressed?
The big ideas of this lesson are combinations, permutations, the multiplication/addition counting principle, and
independent/dependent events. These big ideas will be expressed throughout the lesson plan as the counting principle and
independent/dependent events lead up to understanding permutations and combinations. The formal definitions will not be
introduced until the Elaboration section of this lesson because students, by that time, will be able to apply what they have
learned at the beginning of the lesson to formulate their own definition.
3. How will you introduce the lesson and task(s)? Engage students? Find out about prior knowledge?
Since the class consists of Seniors, a majority of the students own or will be owning a car. We will introduce the lesson by
relating it to license plates, something they are familiar with, to have them engaged. We will also have a recap of our
previous lesson to ensure all students are on the same page because several of the previous lesson’s concepts are an
integral part of this lesson.
4. How will you maintain engagement of all students? For example, consider students who:
a. -struggle with task
We will allow for collaborative work as they are solving the problems. Students will come up and show the class how he/she
solved the problem. Students who disagree or have questions will be given the opportunity to ask “how?” and “why?”
- After a student has presented a problem/solution, we will ask a random student to repeat the process of how the problem
was solved. Students will be informed beforehand that they will be randomly selected.
b. -race through task
We will ask the students if there is another method of solving the problem, ask if any of the student’s neighbors need help.
Also, after the last lesson we found this was an issue, so this time we have prepared a “challenge” sheet for students who
finish early. This half sheet will give those students who finish early more practice while allowing the rest of the class to
finish the original assignment.
c. -express an idea that is hard to understand
We will assist the student to express his/her idea by asking probing questions. We will also ask if another student can help
explaining.
d. -express an idea that is different from direction of lesson
We will ask how the idea is related to the lesson and redirect the class toward the first topic. Another option, if it is close to
the original lesson sequence, just go with whatever the suggestion of the student is and find out whether that method would
work or not and why. Even if we spend 10 minutes doing something that leads to a dead end, the student will understand
why that particular method might not work.
e. -are learning English
None in the classroom.
f. -are off task
Students will stay busy to stay on task. We will walk around and assist students, as they are used to this in their normal
classroom. The students will feel inclined to stay busy if we are constantly moving around the classroom asking them to
explain their processes.
5. How will you set up/pose the task(s)? How will you communicate your expectations?
We will model our expectations so that the students will know how to properly answer the problems.
6. What questions will you ask to find out how students are thinking about the task(s)? What questions might you ask to
extend students’ thinking?
“Is there a different method to solve the problem?” If so, ask the students to show multiple representations.
We will use the white boards to check for student understanding.
7. How will you transition from one lesson segment to the next? How will your wrap up the lesson at the end and help
students summarize the main idea/s?
We will transition from one lesson segment to the next by asking a new question or providing a new activity. We will wrap up
the lesson using formative assessment and ask students to explain the key concepts of the lesson and the definitions of the
vocabulary introduced.
8. How will you facilitate a discussion of the big ideas that reveals student thinking? What is the structure of this discussion?
Groups? Pairs? Whole class? Combination?
The discussion will be open and students will be given the opportunity to express their ideas and ask questions. Students
will be able to work with their neighbors when given problems to solve (collaborative group work). Because of the dynamics
of this class, students work best in pairs before presenting their results to the class.
9. What kinds of artifacts will you require? How will those artifacts be used in the lesson?
Whiteboards and handouts. We like to use white boards to get feedback from every student every time. We like to use
handouts as a more concrete representation of their work because it is harder to “erase.”
10.Work through (solve the problem, conduct the experiment, explore, etc.) the task yourself and predict what students
might do. Play around with it. See if you can find alternative, viable pathways through the task. Describe what you learned
from doing this.
Through solving the problems ourselves we came up with the various responses a student might have. For example, we may
ask a question and the students may not know how to answer our question, so after giving them 5 seconds to respond we
may clarify or give clues to guide them toward understanding. Also, the questions seem so straightforward to us because we
are making the questions so we are prepared to provide clarification when needed.
 LESSON EPISODES (In segments. No set number.)
In writing a description of your lesson, it should be detailed enough that someone else can read this document and envision the
lesson as it is going to play out in the classroom. Please add more rows as needed.

Segment title/
description What teacher is doing step by step (Include specific What students are doing (consider transitions to the
Estimated Time questions that the teacher will ask as well as sample next segment and grouping)
problems)

5 minutes Engage “Let’s say we are going to have a race in this class.” Student’s Response:
Take the names of every student and use their names as if they 1. 3! (factorial), 6, 3 times 2 times 1
were running a race. 2. ABC, ACB, BAC, BCA, CAB, CBA
On a poster:
- “Assume Student A, Student B and Student C are 3. Yes, order matters. The ways they place are all
running a race. How many different ways can they different.
place? What are all the possible combinations of how
the students can place?”
- “Are all of these outcomes different? Such as: is ABC
the same as ACB? Why?”

Resources for this Whiteboard, handout

segment &
SAFETY considerations

5 minutes Explain Call on a student to come up to the board to explain their

(Day 1) reasoning on the whiteboard. (For the questions in Engage)

Resources for this

segment &
SAFETY considerations

Explore “If we expanded our race to four students,” - Student’s Response:

5 minutes (Day 1) On a poster: write four students 1. 4! (factorial), 24, 4 times 3 times 2 times 1
- “Assume Student A, B, C, D are running a race. “How
many different ways can they place?”

Resources for this Whiteboard, handout

segment &
SAFETY considerations
 5 minutes Explain Call on a student to come up to the board to explain their - Students should respond to teacher’s questions in a
(Day 1) reasoning on the whiteboard logical way.

Resources for this

segment &
SAFETY considerations

5 minutes Explore “If we expanded our race to five students.” - Student’s Response:
(Day 1) On a poster: write five students 1. 5! (factorial), 120, 5 times 4 times 3 times 2 times 1
- “Assume Student A, B, C, D, E are running a race.
“How many different ways can they place?”

Resources for this Whiteboard, handout

segment &
SAFETY considerations

5 minutes Explain Call on a student to come up to the board to explain their - Students should respond to teacher’s questions in a
(Day 1) reasoning on the whiteboard. logical way.

Resources for this

segment &
SAFETY considerations

5 minutes Elaborate “For all of these previous problems, we wanted all the possible - Student’s Response:
(Day 1) outcomes for how the entire sample space placed. Does 1. Sample space means the total number of choices
someone know what “sample space” means or possible take a that we have to choose from
guess at its definition?”
2. 4 permute 2, 6, 4!/2! (factorials), 4 times 3, 12
“Now we’re going to have a race with four students but we only
care about finishing in about first and second place. 3. AB, AC, AD, BA, BC, BD, CA, CB, CD, DA, DB, DC
On a poster: 4 students
- “Assume Student A, B, C, D are running a race. How
many ways can we have different people in first and
second place?”
- “List all the possible ways we can have these four
runners place first and second?”

Resources for this Whiteboard, handout, blue definition sheet, definition reference
segment & poster
SAFETY considerations

5 minutes Explain Student comes up to the board to explain their reasoning on the
 (Day 1) white board.

Resources for this Whiteboard, handouts

segment &
SAFETY considerations

10 minutes Explore/ “If we expanded our race to five students and only care about - Student’s Response:
Explain first and second place.” 1. 5 permute 2, 60, 5 times 4 times 3
(Day 1) On a poster: write 5 students
- “Assume Student A, B, C, D, E are running a race.
How many ways can we have different people in first
and second place?"
Student comes up to the board to explain their reasoning on the
whiteboard

Resources for this Whiteboard, handouts

segment &
SAFETY considerations

5-10 Elaborate (Day “From the problems that we did, do any of you see a pattern in - Student’s Response:
1) the methods on how you solved them?” 1. Yes, No, I don’t see a pattern
“When you are multiplying in descending order such as: 5 times
4 times 3 times 2 times 2 like in the previous problem, it is called
a factorial. Denoted as 5!”
“For one of our previous problems in the race, can someone
write out how to solve it using factorials?”

Resources for this Blue definition sheet, definition reference poster

segment &
SAFETY considerations

5-10 Explore “We have a little mix-matching factorial game that we are
(Day 1) handing out. We would like you to solve each problem, and then
write out which two problems match each other on the bottom.”
- After solving the problem, several students will be called upon
for their answers: “Which problems match and why?”
- Student’s Response:
1. Problem ___ and Problem ___ match each other
because 5! is the same as 5 times 4 times 3 times 2
times 1. And they also equal each other. (and so on for
the rest of the problems on the worksheet)

Resources for this Factorial Worksheet

 segment &
SAFETY considerations

10 Elaborate “When we are trying to find out the number of outcomes when - Student’s Response:
(Day 1) the order matters it is called a permutation.” 1. Yes, the order matters. Who places is different for
“For the problems that we’ve solved earlier for the race, did the each possible outcome.
order matter? Why does the order matter?” 2. For the race with 4 students worrying about first and
second place: 4 permute 2. For the race with 5
Introduce permutation notation students worrying about first and second place: 5
“When we are trying to find out the total number of outcomes permute 2.
and the order matters, we decided that it is a permutation and
we can use the equation for permutation.” n! / (n-r)!
“n is the total choices we have to choose from, and r is what we
are choosing from the total choices”
“From the problems we have where we are concerned about
first and second place, can we write it out using the equation for
permutation? Does the equation equal the answer we have
already came up with?”

Resources for this Blue definition sheet, definition reference poster

segment &
SAFETY considerations

5-10 Explore “We have a permutation worksheet that we would like you to
(Day 1) solve. You are allowed to work with the people around you, and
someone will be called upon to show how to solve the problem.”

Resources for this
segment &
SAFETY considerations
Permutation worksheet: Horse race
- Peter Pickemfast spends a day at the races and decides to
play the trifecta in an eight horse field. Knowing nothing about
any of the horses, he chooses horses randomly and buys one
ticket. How many possible ways could the horses finish, if we
only care about the first three places?
Students will work in pairs on this problem and be
expected to explain it in words as well as with the
formula.
SOLUTION:
Breaking down the question, we would write down the
number of possibilities for each of the three place values.
Emphasize to the students that trifecta means you must
pick one horse to win, one horse to place and another
horse to show. ORDER MATTERS.
- Rephrased mathematically, how many permutations are
there of 8 objects chosen 3 at a time?
 This would look like:
- [8] [7] [6] (Which is a permutation)

First we note that any of the 8 horses could win. But the
winning horse cannot also finish second, so there remain
7 horses that could be selected for second. Similarly,
there remain 6 horses that can be selected for third.
Using the multiplication principle directly we see the
number of distinct trifecta wagers is,
8*7*6= 336

5-10 Explain Students come up and show their solutions to the problem
(Day 1)

Resources for this Whiteboard, Worksheets

segment &
SAFETY considerations

10 Evaluate “As an exit slip for leaving today, you will need to complete this - Students will be allowed to work collaboratively with
(Day 1) worksheet is an overall review of what we have learned in this others.
lesson.”

Resources for this Post-Evaluation worksheet

segment &
SAFETY considerations

Day 2
5 Engage Review: - Student’s Response:
(Day 2) - “What did we discuss last class?” 1. A race, permutations, finding out the possible
- “What is a permutation? And how do we tell if it is a outcomes
permutation?” 2. A permutation is all the possible arrangement of a
Pass out pre-assessment worksheet collection where the order is important

Resources for this Pre-assessment (will be similar to the post-evaluation worksheet

segment & from day 1)
SAFETY considerations
 5-10 Explore/ Back to race: “finalist” example - Student’s Response:
Explain - “Last time, we had a race with four runners and we 1. 4 permute 2, 12, 4!/2!
(Day 2) only cared about first and second place. What are the 2. 4 choose 2, 4!/(2!2!), 6
total possible arrangements?” 3. AB, AC, AD, BC, BD, CD
- “What if the order didn’t matter? As in, you only had to 4. 5 choose 2, 5!/(3!2!), 10
place in the top two spots. How many ways can we
have four runners advance to the next round?”
- “List out all the sample space the race can end with
the top two moving onto the next round?”
- “ABCD, ABDC, BADC, BACD. Are the same
combinations of the first two positions”
In between examples we will have students come up and
explain their reasoning.

Back to race: “finalist” example

- “Now, if there are 5 runners and we only care about
first and second place, but now the first two places
advance on to the next round. The order doesn’t
matter. How many ways can we have four runners
advance to the final round?”
- “ABCDE, BACDE, ABCED, BACED, ABEDC, BAEDC,
ABECD, BAECD, ABDEC, BADCE, ABDCE, BADEC.
Are the same combinations of the first two positions”
Students come up to explain their reasoning, show their work.

Resources for this Poster on board, whiteboards

segment &
SAFETY considerations

5-10 Elaborate “When we are trying to find out the number of arrangements
(Day 2) when the order doesn’t matter it is called a combination”
“What does it mean for when the order doesn’t matter? How
does that relate to our race problem?”
Introduce combination notation/formula:
“When the order doesn’t matter and we are trying to find the
total number of outcomes, we can use the equation for
combination.” n!/[(n-r)!r!]
- Student’s Response:
1. For the race, AB is the same as BA
2. The combination formula is the same as the
permutation formula but it also includes (1/r!)
3. We divide by an extra r! because order doesn’t
matter so some of the arrangements are similar so
we have to account for those.
 “Just like for permutations, n is the total choices we have to
choose from, and r is what we are choosing from the total
choices.”
“What is different/similar from the combination formula and the
permutation formula?”
“Why do we divide by an extra r! for combination?”

Applying the combination formula to previous problems

completed:
- “From the problems for the race, can we write it out
using the equation for combination? Does the equation
equal the answer we have already came up with?”

Resources for this Blue definition sheet, definition reference poster

segment &
SAFETY considerations

5-15 Explore/ We will hand out a combination & permutation worksheet that is - Students will be working on the worksheet handed out
Explain purely computational. (This gives students practice on how to and they are allowed to work collaboratively.
(Day 2) actually apply the formula when given problems that is a
combination, permutation, or both.)
We will be walking around assisting students and checking their
work
- We will eventually call on student’s to give their solution to
each problem, and go over the ones where there is
disagreement.

Resources for this Combination & Permutation worksheet

segment &
SAFETY considerations

25-30 Explore/ Amy’s ice cream problem: - Student’s Response:

Explain 1. At Amy’s ice cream we have the choice of 3 cones, 3 flavors 1. 3 * 3 * 4, 36
(Day 2) and 4 toppings. How can we use the multiplication counting
2. 3 C1 * 3 C1 * 4 C1
principle to find out the number of different combinations we can
order if we choose one cone, one flavor and one topping? 3. 3 C1 * 2(3C1) * (4C1 + 4C2) or 3C1 * (3C1 + 3C1) * (4C1 +
2. How would we write this using the formulas we have learned 4C2)
today?
3. Now, what if we could order one cone, two scoops of ice
cream, and two toppings?
 Resources for this Amy’s Ice Cream handout
segment & One set of cutouts to be placed on the board for visuals
SAFETY considerations

15-20 Evaluate Independent work: Written on a poster - Students will work with a partner in creating their own
(Day 2) “Now you have the opportunity to create your own problem with problem. Each group will eventually present their problem
a partner. Your problem must: to the class after the allotted time to work.
- Indicate whether it is a permutation or a combination.
- Answer the question, listing the sample space.
- Use the correct formula to verify your answer.”

1. 6C4 = 15
2. 6C2 = 15
3. 5C3 = 10
4. 4P2 = 12
5. 5P2 = 20
6. 5C2 = 10

Resources for this Poster (one for each group), markers

segment &
SAFETY considerations