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9th Grade  Project 1 week

Smartphone Memory Math Challenge

Christian M
Updated
CCSS.Math.Content.HSG-MG.A.3
CCSS.Math.Content.HSA-CED.A.4
CCSS.Math.Practice.MP5
CCSS.Math.Practice.MP4
CCSS.Math.Content.HSA-CED.A.4
+ 5 more
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Purpose

Students work in teams to design a smartphone memory plan that fits a realistic storage limit and matches the needs of a specific phone user. They use equations and inequalities to allocate memory for photos, games, music, video, and the operating system, then revise their design after comparing another user scenario. Through pitch circles, partner defense conferences, and a launch walkthrough, students communicate their reasoning, test design choices, and connect algebra to everyday technology decisions.

Learning goals

Students will model a smartphone’s storage plan with equations and inequalities, rearranging formulas to determine how much memory is available for photos, games, music, video, and the operating system within a fixed limit. They will apply geometric and design reasoning to justify storage choices that fit a specific user’s habits and compare tradeoffs between features. Students will use strategic tools such as calculators, tables, and digital slides to test and revise their design after receiving feedback from peers. They will communicate and defend their final memory allocation clearly in a partner conference, circle discussion, and public walkthrough.

Standards
  • [Common Core] CCSS.Math.Content.HSG-MG.A.3 - Apply geometric methods to solve design problems (e.g., designing an object or structure to satisfy physical constraints or minimize cost; working with typographic grid systems based on ratios).
  • [Common Core] CCSS.Math.Content.HSA-CED.A.4 - Rearrange formulas to highlight a quantity of interest, using the same reasoning as in solving equations.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.Math.Practice.MP5 - Use appropriate tools strategically.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.Math.Practice.MP4 - Model with mathematics.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.Math.Content.HSA-CED.A.4 - Rearrange formulas to highlight a quantity of interest, using the same reasoning as in solving equations.
Competencies
  • Effective Communication - Students practice listening to understand, communicating with empathy, and share their learning through exhibiting, presenting and reflecting on their work.
  • Critical Thinking & Problem Solving - Students consider a variety of innovative approaches to address and understand complex questions that are authentic and important to their communities.
  • Collaboration - Students co-design projects with peers, exercise shared-decision making, strengthen relational agency, resolve conflict, and assume leadership roles.
  • Self Directed Learning - Students use teacher and peer feedback and self-reflection to monitor and direct their own learning while building self knowledge both in and out of the classroom.
  • Content Expertise - Students develop key competencies, skills, and dispositions with ample opportunities to apply knowledge and engage in work that matters to them.

Products

Students create a team-designed smartphone memory poster or digital slide deck that shows storage allocations for photos, games, music, video, and the operating system using equations and inequalities within a fixed memory limit. During the project, teams also produce a quick launch pitch, a first-draft memory model, and a revised version after a scenario swap with a different phone user’s habits. By the end, each team presents a Smartphone Launch Walkthrough display that highlights phone features, the final memory budget, and one design improvement backed by mathematical reasoning. Individual students add a short reflection describing how their storage choices connect to real user needs and how their thinking changed.

Launch

Open with a fast “phone user challenge” by giving each team a short profile of a real teen phone user and a fixed memory limit, then ask them to make a 2-minute first draft of how that storage should be divided across photos, games, music, video, and the operating system. Teams share a quick pitch circle explaining one storage choice they made and one tradeoff they noticed, while classmates listen for which activities seem to demand the most memory. Then lead a brief whole-group circle discussion on what changed their thinking as they compare needs across users and preview that they will defend and revise their designs with equations and inequalities.

Exhibition

Host a Smartphone Launch Walkthrough where teams present at stations with a poster or 3–4 digital slides showing their phone design, total memory limit, storage allocations for photos, games, music, video, and the operating system, and the equations and inequalities that justify their choices. Invite classmates, another Algebra 1 class, or family/community guests to rotate through, ask questions from a user-habit scenario card, and listen as teams explain one revision they made after comparing a different user’s needs. Include a brief partner speaking role so each student explains part of the model and responds to feedback about how well the design fits the intended user. End with a quick audience vote for the design that best matches a specific user profile and a short reflection on how memory budgeting changed their thinking.