Education Technology


Picturing Percents

Activity Overview

Students represent percents on a 10 X 10 grid. They use the grid and the calculator to generate patterns that lead to methods for calculating percentages.

Before the Activity

  • See the attached PDF file for detailed instructions for this activity
  • Print student activity sheets pages 68 - 69 from the attached PDF file for your class
  • During the Activity

    Distribute the pages to the class.

    Follow the activity procedures:

  • Discuss what the term percent means
  • Represent various percentages using a 10 X 10 grid
  • Model a solution to a percentage problem on the grid
  • Generate different problems, record the data, and look for patterns to develop a method for calculating percentages
  • Use the calculators to test methods for calculating percentages
  • After the Activity

  • Review student results
  • As a class, discuss questions that appeared to be more challenging
  • Re-teach concepts as necessary