City Park Design Using Equivalent Ratios
City Planner – Designing a Scaled Park is an interactive, real-world math activity where students take on the role of junior city planners. Their task is to convert real park feature measurements into scaled dimensions using a fixed ratio (1 cm = 5 m), applying their understanding of equivalent ratios and proportional reasoning.
As students complete ratio tables and enter scaled lengths and widths, an interactive graph automatically updates in real time, visually displaying the layout of the park. This immediate feedback bridges the gap between numeric computation and visual understanding, reinforcing the connection between math and spatial reasoning.
🧠 Skills and Concepts Reinforced:
- Applying equivalent ratios to solve scale problems
- Understanding proportional relationships and the constant of proportionality
- Using ratio tables to support structured reasoning
- Interpreting line graphs that represent scaled dimensions
- Analyzing the visual layout of the park based on student inputs
- Responding to multiple choice questions that require interpreting features on the graph
🧩 Key Features:
- Ratio tables scaffold student thinking for each feature
- A graph dynamically reflects each correct input, building the scaled park piece by piece
- Includes multiple structures (playground, pond, garden, etc.) with varying real-world sizes
- Ends with graph-based questions that deepen interpretation and reinforce scale understanding
This worksheet brings math to life through meaningful visuals and real-time feedback, helping students master scaling in an engaging and applied way.
Learning Objective
Students will apply their understanding of equivalent ratios and proportional relationships to convert real-world measurements into scaled dimensions using a fixed scale (1 cm = 5 m). They will use ratio tables to reason through conversions, reinforce the concept of constant of proportionality, and interpret the relationship between scaled drawings and actual dimensions by observing a dynamically generated graph of their park layout. This activity supports both computational fluency and visual-spatial reasoning within a real-world design context.
