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KeyStage 2 Upper

Estimating Objects (Investigation)

Lesson

How many buttons are there in your classroom right now

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Discussion

  • Did you only think about buttons that were on clothing? Could buttons be found anywhere else? 
  • What was your definition of a button?
  • How did you go about working that out?  
  • If I changed the question to "How many in the school?", what could you do to work that out effectively?  
  • What mathematical operations are you using and how can we generalise from the classroom answer to the school, or among the schools in your area?  

Taking it Further

  • What other objects could be counted or estimated?  

  • Do the same strategies apply?  Or do we need to use different strategies depending on the objects chosen?
  • Why would people or companies need to estimate things like these?

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