Good math is not how many answers you know.

It's how you behave when you don't know!

Grade 9 PAT 2010 Assessment Highlights

(Preparation for 2011 and beyond!)

What is this resource?

"Teachers should not have to halt instruction to prepare students for the BIG TEST." Alberta Education, General Information Bulletin

Practicing for PATs is important, but should be imbedded in daily math instruction. We've created this file to give you and your students one more way to prepare.

The questions we have included here come from Alberta Education's released PAT materials, and you may already be familiar with them. What's important is not the questions themselves, but how you use them with your students.

Link to Alberta Learning PAT resources

Time Frame:

We recommend using just one or two problems each day.

Some days, you may want to use it as a quick opener or filler. On those days, choose a simpler problem - one that doesn't seem to lend itself to deep exploration.

Some problems are richer, and you and your students could easily spend a much longer time creating questions, sharing strategies, and justifying solutions.

Benefits:

· increased student engagement

· ability to reach students at many levels when presented with the same problems

· integration of many of the process skills through a single problem: problem solving, communication, reasoning, visualization, connections, mental math and estimation

· opportunity for students to collaborate and build skills and knowledge as a community of learners

· opportunity for students to ponder a situation and ask their own questions

How to use the problems:

· Use the screen shade to reveal only as much of the information as you need to begin.

· You may choose to reveal only the context of the problem, the background information, the picture or graphic, or the question without all the information needed to answer it. You're going to approach different problems in different ways.

· Involve your students in wondering about the situation, sharing things they notice about the problem, clarifying vocabulary,and building/sharing background knowledge.

· Consider using "partner talk" as much as possible to increase student engagement.

Key Questions at this point:

· "What do you think this might be about?"

· "What do you notice?"

· "What do we already know?"

· "What information can you pull from this?"

· "Can you explain this situation to your partner in your own words?"

· "What questions could you ask about this (graph/picture/situation)?"

Next steps:

· Once you've allowed your students to talk through the problem context and pull out as much math as they can, reveal the question itself.

· If applicable, ask them for an estimate - What will the answer be close to? What do you know about the answer?

· Give students time to come up with an answer, either independently or with their partner.

· When you think they're ready, reveal multiple choice answers.

· At this point, give them a couple more minutes to prepare before you facilitate sharing.

Key Questions at this point:

· "Did you notice any answers that you knew were unreasonable?"

· "Why do you think your answer is the best option?"

· "What strategy did you use to find your answer?"

· "Who got a different answer or thought of it in a different way?"

· "If you see your answer as one of the choices, do you know it's right?"

· "Was anyone's answer not on the list? What did you do next?"

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You'll find the answers for each question on these pull tabs.

Extensions:

· Using the screen shade, present from the bottom up instead of the top down. Look at the answers first, and come up with possible questions to match.

· Have students create and share problems for a particular graphic or context, before considering the actual question. For example, have them use index cards, write the question on the front and the answer on the back, and then trade with other students.

· Add your own problems to this file. Scan the problem or open a digital file, and then use the screen capture (camera) tool to capture the different elements. You can then arrange them any way you wish, depending on the order in which you want to present those elements to your students.

A. 5

B. 4

C. 3

D. 2

What is the fewest number of paycheques that it will take Channi to save a minumum of $320?

Channi saves 15% of her weekly $625 paycheque.

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A. 123

B. 345

C. 456

D. 789

If the total charge was $342.25, then how many guests attended Frank's party?

Frank rented an amusement park for a party. He was charged an initial $250 fee and $0.75 for each guest.

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Kayla has an average of 83% on 15 quizzes.

If her teacher eliminates Kayla's lowest grade, a 56%, then which of the following equations can be used to find Kayla's new quiz average?

A.

B.

C.

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Which of the following equations can Mira use to calculate the amount each person must pay, P?

Mira is going on a vacation with Jessie and Sam. Each person will pay an equal share for the cost of the rental car (r), hotel (h), and food (f).

A.

B.

C.

D.P

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A. 2 times as much

B. 4 times as much

C. 6 times as much

D. 8 times as much

If each side of Norm's fish tank is half the length of each side of Rick's fish tank, then how much more water will Rick's fish tank hold?

Norm and Rick both have cube shaped fish tanks as shown below.

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Which of the following containers has the greatest volume?

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A teacher has four bags that contain both red and green marbles. The number of red and green marbles in each bag is shown in the table below. The teacher asks one of her students to reach into one of the bags and select a marble without looking.

A. 1 C. 3

B. 2 D. 4

In order to have the greatest probability of selecting a green marble, the student should select a marble from bag

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A student must describe the weather by using only 1 of the 4 sky condition symbols given below and only 1 of the 3 wind condition symbols shown here.

On any given day, what is the probability that the student will describe the sky condition as "sunny" and the wind condition as "no wind"?

A. C.

B. D.

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The approximate value of 15 is represented by the letter:√A. J

B. K

C. L

D. M

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The following diagram represents a balanced mobile.

The sum of all parts of the mobile is:

A.

B.

C.

D.

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Which of the following inequalities could be used to determine the maximum number of shirts, n, Sandy can buy if she also buys 2 pairs of pants?

Sandy has a budget of $100 to spend on back-to-school clothes. The shirts she wants to buy are $12 each, and the pants she wants to buy are $25 each. All prices include tax.

A.B.C.D.

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If O is the centre of the circle, the measure of x is _____°.

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Which of the following equations could be used to determine how much time in hours, t, the car travels until it catches up to the truck?

A truck heads north at a constant speed of 80 km/h. A car leaves 20 minutes later heading north along the same road and travelling at a constant speed of 90 km/h.

A.

B.

C.

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The diagram below shows the front elevation of a building on a blueprint.

Based on the dimensions shown on the blueprint, the actual dimensions of the window, to the nearest tenth of a metre, will be:

A. 0.5 m x 0.3 mB. 1.0 m x 0.6 mC. 1.8 m x 1.1 mD. 1.8 m x 3.0 m

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If the shortest side of the first polygon has as length of 4 cm, then the corresponding side of the second polygon has a length of _____ cm.

Sam draws two polygons that are similar. The first polygon has a perimeter of 16 cm and the second polygon has a perimeter of 10 cm.

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Darren joins the rectangular prisms shown below to create a new rectangular prism that has the greatest possible surface area. He then paints all visible surfaces. After the paint dries, Darren separates the two prisms.

The total area of both prisms that has not been painted is _____cm2.

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