Percent Park Planner: Split a Park Into Percent Zones That Total 100%
Generate fresh area limits, unit costs, and a budget with at least one feasible plan.
Hitting 100% Is the Easy Part — the Budget and Each Zone's Range Are Where Plans Break
Generate fresh area limits, unit costs, and a budget with at least one feasible plan. Adjust play and nature space, let events use the remainder, and satisfy both area and cost constraints.
From One Percent at a Time to Balancing Play, Nature, and Events (Grades 5–7)
It grows out of splitting a whole into percent parts (6.RP.A.3.C) and treating the park as one hundred percent shared among zones, then reaches toward the multi-step percent and budget reasoning of 7.RP.A.3. Fifth graders lean on the sliders to keep the total at 100, while sixth and seventh graders track the unit cost per point and defend why one valid plan runs cheaper than another.
Learning Points
- visual modeling
- step checking
- units and quantity
- applied reasoning
Steps and completion rules
- Read the area requirements and budget, and inspect the initially invalid plan.
- Adjust play and nature space while watching the remaining events area and total cost.
- Submit when every area constraint and the budget are satisfied. Replay to compare another target set.
Teacher / Parent Note
Compare two candidate plans for percentage requirements and cost. At least one feasible plan exists; if students find more than one, discuss their tradeoffs.