LESSON PLAN: That Figures: Understanding Numbers in News Reports

[Ryan Goble]

Great lesson plan from the New York Times Learning Network! Bonus points as it is co-written by an MC POP person!

January 25, 2010, 2:21 PM

That Figures: Understanding Numbers in News Reports

By SARAH KAVANAGH AND KATHERINE SCHULTEN

Ozier Muhammad/The New York TimesA man was rescued in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Saturday after being trapped in rubble for 11 days.Go to related article »

Overview | What can understanding the magnitude of numbers tell us about what is happening in the world around us? Why is it important to comprehend numbers in the news? In this lesson, students develop the skill of understanding numbers in news stories by examining a story that interests them, developing a meaningful context and visually representing the numbers.

Materials | Markers, paper, computers with Internet access, newsprint or posterboard, handouts

Warm-up | Have students complete the Number the News handout (PDF), in which they try to fill in the blanks in quotes from recent Times articles with the correct numbers. Note that two sentences have two blanks to fill in, and that all 10 of the numbers will be used.

For the full lesson go here!