SAIS - Dubai
Unit Plan
Unit 1: Real Numbers, Exponents and Scientific Notation (M-10 & 12)
Middle School / Grade 8 / الصف الثامن/ Mathematics / الرياضيات
Week 1 - Week 7 | 5 Curriculum Developers | Last Updated: Jul 4, 2025 by Shaikh, Roshan
Unit Details
Describe the Summative Task and describe the Key Skill on the Performance Task.
Summative Performance Task, Key Skills
Performance Task:
Scientific Notation Space Exploration: Students will apply their understanding of exponents and scientific notation by analyzing astronomical
data from four planets using sources like NASA. They will calculate and compare values related to distance, size, and mass using powers of 10.
Then, students will design a fictional planet and create a space travel brochure using scientific notation to describe key features. To extend
learning, they will research the UAE’s contributions to space exploration, connecting math with science and social studies. Final presentations
will showcase their ability to use math accurately, think creatively, and communicate effectively through real-world applications.
Key Skills:
Creative or Critical Thinking:
Students will apply mathematical reasoning to analyze planetary data and creatively design a fictional planet, using scientific notation to
represent its features accurately.
Collaboration and Communication:
Students will work in teams to interpret real data, discuss their findings, and present their travel brochure clearly using both visual and written
components.
List and describe all assessments, Summative and Formative. Attach Standards to each.
Assessments | التقويم
Depth of Knowledge (DOK) Levels
FA Quiz on 10.1 , 10.2 and 10.3 | Formative | Quiz/Graded Classwork
The quiz assesses students' understanding of rational and irrational numbers, estimating and simplifying roots, and ordering real numbers on a
number line. It includes classification questions, number comparisons, and real-world applications of square roots.
4 Standards Assessed
FA Quiz on 12.2 and 12.3 | Formative | Quiz/Graded Classwork
This quiz evaluates students' ability to express numbers in scientific notation, convert between standard and scientific notation, and perform
operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) with numbers in scientific notation.
2 Standards Assessed
Mid-Semester 1 | Summative | Written Task
10.1 Understand Rational and Irrational Numbers
10.2 Investigate Roots
10.3 Order Real Numbers
12.1 Know and Apply Properties of Exponents
5 Standards Assessed
SA Performance Task on Scientific Notation Space Exploration | Summative | Presentation/Performance
Students will analyze NASA data on four planets.
Express the information in scientific notation.
Compare and calculate volume, mass, and other measurements using the four operations of scientific notation.
Apply their understanding by designing a unique planet.
Create a creative travel brochure describing their planet using scientific notation.
6 Standards Assessed
Big Idea
The real number system consists of rational and irrational numbers, which can be represented on a number line.
Square roots and cube roots help us understand the relationships between numbers and their powers.
Comparing and ordering real numbers involves understanding decimals, fractions, and radicals.
Use integer exponents to represent and simplify expressions involving repeated multiplication.
Apply the properties of exponents (product rule, quotient rule, power rule, zero exponent, and negative exponent rule) to simplify
expressions.
Convert between standard form and scientific notation for very large and very small numbers.
Perform operations with numbers in scientific notation, including multiplication and division.
Use scientific notation to solve problems involving real-world measurements, such as distances in space or microscopic scales.
What questions do students need to answer through performance tasks?
Essential Questions
- What defines a number as rational or irrational, and how can you identify each?
- How do the decimal expansions of rational and irrational numbers differ?
- Why is it useful to convert a repeating decimal into a rational number?
- How can we use rational approximations to compare and estimate the size of irrational numbers?
- In what ways do the properties of integer exponents help us generate equivalent numerical expressions?
- How do square root and cube root symbols help us solve equations, and why are some square roots, like √2, considered irrational?
- How does understanding real numbers enhance our understanding of the number system and its applications in real life?
Why do we need rules for working with exponents?
How do the properties of exponents simplify expressions with large or small powers?
What happens when you multiply, divide, or raise numbers with exponents to another power?
Why is scientific notation useful for representing very large or very small numbers?
How can we convert between standard form and scientific notation?
How does the placement of the decimal point affect the exponent in scientific notation?
Standards | المعايير
Reinforce
AERO: Mathematics Framework (2015)
AERO: Grade 8
The Number System
Know that there are numbers that are not rational, and approximate them by rational numbers.
R D I AERO.8.NS.1 Know that numbers that are not rational are called irrational. Understand informally that every number has a
decimal expansion; for rational numbers show that the decimal expansion repeats eventually, and convert a decimal
expansion which repeats eventually into a rational number. (DOK 1)
Apply and extend previous understandings of numbers to the system of rational numbers
R D I AERO.8.NS.2 Use rational approximations of irrational numbers to compare the size of irrational numbers, locate them
approximately on a number line diagram, and estimate the value of expressions (e.g., p2). (DOK 1, 2)
Develop
AERO: Mathematics Framework (2015)
AERO: Grade 8
The Number System
Know that there are numbers that are not rational, and approximate them by rational numbers.
R D I AERO.8.NS.1 Know that numbers that are not rational are called irrational. Understand informally that every number has a
decimal expansion; for rational numbers show that the decimal expansion repeats eventually, and convert a decimal
expansion which repeats eventually into a rational number. (DOK 1)
Apply and extend previous understandings of numbers to the system of rational numbers
R D I AERO.8.NS.2 Use rational approximations of irrational numbers to compare the size of irrational numbers, locate them
approximately on a number line diagram, and estimate the value of expressions (e.g., p2). (DOK 1, 2)
Expressions and Equations
Apply and extend previous understandings of arithmetic to algebraic expressions.
R D I AERO.8.EE.1 Know and apply the properties of integer exponents to generate equivalent numerical expressions. (DOK 1)
Work with radicals and integer exponents (G.8)
R D I AERO.8.EE.2 Use square root and cube root symbols to represent solutions to equations of the form x2 = p and x3 = p,
where p is a positive rational number. Evaluate square roots of small perfect squares and cube roots of small perfect cubes.
Know that v2 is irrational (DOK 1)
R D I AERO.8.EE.3 Use numbers expressed in the form of a single digit times an integer power of 10 to estimate very large or very
small quantities, and to express how many times as much one is than the other. (DOK 1, 2)
R D I AERO.8.EE.4 Perform operations with numbers expressed in scientific notation, including problems where both decimal and
scientific notation are used. Use scientific notation and choose units of appropriate size for measurements of very large or
very small quantities Interpret scientific notation that has been generated by technology (DOK 1, 2)
Introduce
AERO: Mathematics Framework (2015)
AERO: Grade 8
Expressions and Equations
Work with radicals and integer exponents (G.8)
R D I AERO.8.EE.4 Perform operations with numbers expressed in scientific notation, including problems where both decimal and
scientific notation are used. Use scientific notation and choose units of appropriate size for measurements of very large or
very small quantities Interpret scientific notation that has been generated by technology (DOK 1, 2)
Content Topics
10.1 Understand Rational and Irrational Numbers
10.2 Investigate Roots
10.3 Order Real Numbers
12.1 Know and Apply Properties of Exponents
12.2 Understand Scientific Notation
12.3 Compute with Scientific Notation
List assessed vocabulary related to the content topic only.
Academic/Topic Vocabulary | المفردات األكاديمية
Rational Numbers
Irrational Numbers
Square Roots
Cubic Roots
Scientific Notation
Real Numbers
Surface Area
Exponent
Base
Power
Product of Powers Property
Quotient of Powers Property
Power of a Power Property
Power of a Product Property
Power of a Quotient Property
Zero Exponent Rule
Negative Exponent
Scientific Notation
Standard Form
Resources | المصادر
HMH IntoMath
HMH Digital
Desmos
IXL
Edpuzzle
Printable graph paper
Task-specific worksheets for practice
Assessment Adaptations and Modifications
SOD:
1. Modified Performance Tasks and Quizzes
2. Allow students to record some of their responses.
3. Highlight key points, and allow additional time for task completion.
LSP:
1. Provide a step-by-step guide with worked examples and reduce the number of required tasks
2. Offer extended time and small-group instruction to reinforce concepts before independent work.
3. Extra time and scaffolding to assist with understanding scientific notation and operations.
High Achievers
1. Challenge students with an additional "mystery" task requiring them to apply concepts in a real-world scenario.
2. Challenge them to compare planetary data using ratios in scientific notation.
3. Require them to justify their findings with real-world applications.
4. Extend their task to include research on how scientific notation is used in astronomy and space exploration.
Provide outline including ALL weeks of the unit, and bullet points under each weekly topic with lesson activities. BOLD any formative or
summative assessments.
Unit Plan by Week
1. Inductions Week : Introduction to IntoMath Grade 8
2. Induction Week : Review of adding and subtracting fractions
3. Induction Week : Review Statistics and Probability
4. Induction Week : Review of Decimals and Integers
5. Review Operations in Rational numbers
6. Review Equations and Inequalities
7. Review Statistics and Geometry
8. Diagnostic Test : Growth Measure Test on HMH Intomath
9. Ch. 10.1- Understand Rational and Irrational numbers
10. Ch. 10.1- Understand Rational and Irrational numbers
11. Ch. 10.2- Investigate Roots
12. Ch. 10.2- Investigate Roots
13. Ch. 10.2- Investigate Roots
14. Ch 10.3- Order Real Numbers
15. Ch 10.3- Order Real Numbers
16. Ch. 12.1- Know and Apply Properties of Exponents
17. Ch. 12.1- Know and Apply Properties of Exponents
18. Ch. 12.1- Know and Apply Properties of Exponents
19. FA: Quiz on Ch.10.1 , 10.2 and 10.3
20. Ch. 12.2- Understand Scientific Notation
21. Ch. 12.2- Understand Scientific Notation
22. Ch. 12.2- Understand Scientific Notation
23. Ch 12.3- Compute with Scientific Notation
24. Ch 12.3- Compute with Scientific Notation
25. Ch 12.3- Compute with Scientific Notation
26. Ch 12.3- Compute with Scientific Notation
27. FA: Quiz on 12.2 and 12.3
28. Review; Reteach, and Extend
29. CW: Group Creative Project; Planning
30. SA Performance Task on Scientific Notation Space Exploration
31. SA Performance Task on Scientific Notation Space Exploration
32. Mid-Semester Revision
33. Mid-Semester Revision
34. SA : Mid-Semester 1 Exam
35. SA : Mid-Semester 1 Exam
