Unit 7 Contents

Use Variables and Values

George Washington Carver became the Director of Agriculture Research at Tuskegee Institute. He taught and worked with poor southern farmers for 47 years. In the story, George Washington Carver taught his students about variables and standard units that are often used in math and science.

Read each question, decide which variable is appropriate for each situation and suggest at least one possible standard unit that could be used. Be ready to share how you decided.

1. Michael and Nicolas each made a paper airplane. They wanted to see which one could fly the farthest.
2. Shannon is doing a mosaic project on a tabletop. She wants to know how many tiles she will need to cover a table that is 2 feet wide and 4 feet long.
3. Ana wants to know how many juice boxes will fit in her cooler.
4. Frank wants to know how much he has read over the last week.
5. Maya is going to put a wallpaper border up in her room. She wants to know how much border she needs to purchase.
6. Jerome is baking a cake for a party. He needs to add milk to his recipe.
7. Luis and Romesh wanted to know if they could carry $1000 in pennies.

Use the variables from the story to complete the Variables page in the Student Activity Book.