few_shots: 
Example:
Concept/skill: 
Compose two-dimensional shapes (rectangles, squares, trapezoids, triangles, half-circles, and quarter-circles) or three-dimensional shapes (cubes, right rectangular prisms, right circular cones, and right circular cylinders) to create a composite shape, and compose new shapes from the composite shape. (Students do not need to learn formal names such as “right rectangular prism.”)

Problem/activity:
Narrative
The purpose of this activity is for students to create composite shapes and compose new shapes from composite shapes. For example, students may find that a rectangular prism can be made from four triangular prisms or from eight smaller cubes. Students then discover that they can combine two of the composed rectangular prisms to make a new rectangular prism.
Required Materials
Materials to Gather
Geoblocks
Launch
Groups of 4
Give each group geoblocks.
Display a large cube.
“This cube can be built from other shapes. See how many ways you can build a cube using other shapes.”
3 minutes: partner work time
Share responses.
Activity
“Choose a different shape. Try to find smaller shapes you can use to build that shape.”
5 minutes: partner work time
Student Response
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Activity Synthesis
Display a cube and a composite cube—for example, a cube composed of four small cubes and one rectangular prism.
Demonstrate putting the shapes together.
“What new shape did I make with the cube and the cube I made?”
“Put your shapes together to make a rectangular prism.”
Display a rectangular prism and two triangular prisms.
“Find these shapes. Put them together. What new shape can you make?” (a cube, a rectangular block)


Answer: 
Yes. This activity asks students to compose three-dimensional shapes, using geoblocks, to create composite shapes.

Now, determine whether the following problem or activity can enable students to understand the concepts or skills in the provided description.

shot_info: im_lesson_009431_pos_0

1
standard_description: Explain equivalence of fractions in special cases, and compare fractions by reasoning about their size.
Grade 3 expectations in this domain are limited to fractions with denominators 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8.
problem_activity: Task
“Exponential decay” describes a situation in which a quantity decreases following a certain pattern. We’re going to investigate a situation that decays exponentially. Read through steps 1-6 below and answer questions a-c before carrying out the investigation.
1. Get your hands on 30 6-sided dice and put them in a container.
2. Find a safe place where you can roll 30 dice at once, like a tray (or the container itself, if it is large enough).
3. Roll the remaining dice (or shake the container thoroughly).
4. Remove any dice that display a "1" and set them aside.
5. Write down how many dice remain.
6. Go back to step 3 and repeat. Stop when you have rolled the dice ten times.
Pre-investigation questions:
When you roll 30 dice, how many 1’s do you predict you are likely to roll? Why?
After you remove the 1’s on the first roll, what fraction of the original number of dice do you predict will remain?
How many times do you predict you might have to roll the dice and remove the 1’s before you get to a roll where you don’t roll any 1’s?
Conduct the Investigation:
Construct a table to record the number of 1’s and the number of dice remaining after each roll, as shown.
|           Roll           | 0  | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|--------------------------|----|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|----|
|      Number of 1’s       | X  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |    |
| Number of Dice Remaining | 30 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |    |
Now for some mathematical modeling:
Use technology to create a scatter plot with number of dice remaining on the vertical axis and roll number on the horizontal axis. Discuss what you see.
Based on what you know about exponential functions and the behavior of dice, explain in words why an exponential model would be appropriate for this situation.
Based on what you know about exponential functions and 6-sided dice, write a function of the form \(d(x)=ab^x\) to model the relationship between the roll number, x, and the number of dice remaining, d(x). Your job here is to decide what numbers to use in place of a and b. This should not be based on the data you collected -- it is a mathematical model for how dice behave.
Graph your function on the same set of axes as your scatter plot. Compare and contrast the graphed model d(x) to the outcome of the experiment shown in the scatter plot.
Suppose someone repeated this activity, except they started with 100 8-sided dice instead of 30 6-sided dice. Write a new function that would model this situation.
Here is a tool that could be used in this task:


aligns: no