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What is it?
How do you make a topic such as equivalent ratio exciting and engaging for students? Well, if you are anything like me, you don’t. A few worked examples, followed by some practice – no doubt with with some far-fetched real-life contexts shoehorned in there for good measure – and then get on with something more interesting.

Thankfully, author Richard Tock has produced something far better here. Students are challenged to find ratios that are equivalent to 3:2, 2:3, 3:1, 1:3 and 1:1 and colour them in a certain colour. So far so good. But what really impresses me about this resource are the choices of ratios presented. They have been carefully chosen to cover the full breadth of the topic (fractions, decimals and even powers are included), as well as expose any nasty misconceptions. I really like the use of negative numbers and different units of measure in this resource.

How can this be used?
This would be an ideal way for students to practice calculating equivalent ratios following a series of worked examples. The different format of the task may just lead to a boost in engagement and effort, which is never a bad thing. Essentially, at the heart of this activity is some good, solid mathematics.

Once students have finished, a class discussion about the ratios students found most challenging and those questions designed to expose misconceptions could be had. If this has gone well, students could then be challenged to create their own pixel picture of another topic in the future. As one reviewer wrote: This is going to be a go-to resource when teaching ratio.

Thanks for sharing!
Craig Barton

Download: Equivalent ratio – Pixel perfect
View the author’s other resources