Grade Levels: 6-8, 9-12

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This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Graphing and Solving Inequalities, and supports the standard of writing an inequality to represent a constraint or condition in a real-world or mathematical problem. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Display an inequality, like this one from the movie (timestamp: 1:22):

Ask students:

  • How does this inequality resemble an equation? How does it differ? 
  • How might you use what you know about solving for a variable in an equation to solve for x in this inequality?

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Assign Graphing and Solving Inequalities Quiz, prompting students to apply essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about graphing and solving inequalities while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

  • Make-a-Movie: Produce a tutorial that explains how to solve for x and graph 5x + 4 < 29.
  • Make-a-Map: Create a concept map identifying the steps to find x in the inequality 4x – 3 < 17. 
  • Creative Coding: Code a math problem involving graphing an inequality and challenge a classmate to solve it.

More to Explore   

Related BrainPOP Topics: Deepen understanding of expressions and equations with these topics: Graphing Linear Equations, Inequalities, and Equations with Variables.

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