Teaching ideas

• Getting started (Getting started sheet 6)
  This link displays the Getting started on page 113 for use as a class discussion.

• What’s the difference?
  You will need some Multilink cubes (or counters) in two different colours.

• • Put 3 red cubes and 5 blue cubes together.
  • Ask questions such as
    • “How many cubes are there in total?”
    • “What fraction are red?”
    • “What fraction are blue?”
• Ask students to show you using red and blue cubes that red cubes in the ratio 1:2 and blue cubes in the ratio 1:2 are different.
• Discuss how else you could describe the relationship between the red and blue cubes to elicit the ratio of blue to red cubes
  as 5:3.
  • • “Does the order of the ratio matter?”
• Give Multilink cubes to everyone and ask for specific ratios.
  • • Show me red to blue cubes in the ratio 2:3
    • Show me blue to red cubes in the ratio 4:5 etc

Discussion

• You could use the Discussion on page 115 to discuss the difference between ratios and fractions when describing the same picture.
• Discuss the order of the ratio and that the ratio of green to pink being 3:4 is different from the ratio of green to pink being 4:3. Point
  out that if you mixed juice concentrate and water in the ratio of 1:3 the drink would be quite different than if you mixed it in the ratio
  of 3:1.