Students use expressions, equations, inequalities, tables, and graphs to model a real school or everyday-life challenge and make a justified decision within cost, time, and resource constraints. Through a facilities-based maintenance problem introduced by a community partner, they practice turning messy situations into clear mathematical models, testing viable and nonviable options, and explaining their reasoning to others. The work builds toward a one-page decision brief and a public booth presentation at the Model Makers Fair, where students show how their math supports a recommendation. Ongoing checkpoints, peer critique, and timeline reflections help students monitor stuck points, revise their models, and strengthen communication, collaboration, and problem solving.

Students will use variables, expressions, equations, and inequalities to represent real quantities and constraints in school, work, and everyday-life situations, then solve and interpret which options are viable. They will create and compare tables, graphs, and equations to model a facilities or maintenance problem and justify a recommendation using evidence about cost, time, and resources. Students will collaborate through checkpoints and peer critique to revise labels, representations, and reasoning, while tracking stuck points and next steps through brief reflections. They will communicate their thinking clearly in a one-page decision brief and a short presentation at the Model Makers Fair.

Students will create quick scenario sketches and draft expressions during the launch, then build tables, graphs, and equation sets as they investigate a real maintenance or everyday-life decision. Throughout the project, each group will produce checkpoint artifacts, including labeled variable lists, inequality models, peer feedback notes, and class timeline reflections about stuck points and next steps. The final product is a one-page decision brief that includes equations, inequalities, tables, graphs, labeled variables, and a written recommendation explaining the most viable option under cost and time constraints. For the Model Makers Fair, students will also prepare a booth display and a short presentation that shows how their mathematical model led to a clear decision.

Open with a Model Makers Mixer: set up stations featuring short, realistic scenarios from school and everyday life, including a facilities manager repair case with budget and time limits, and have students rotate to sketch quick expressions, equations, or inequalities for each. In teams, students choose one scenario, post their first-draft model on chart paper, and do a brief gallery walk to notice how different variables and constraints shape decisions. Close with the essential questions and a whole-class discussion about which models seem viable or nonviable and what information they would need to make a clear recommendation. End by introducing the four-week goal: creating a one-page decision brief and booth presentation for the Model Makers Fair.

Host a Model Makers Fair where each group sets up a booth to display its one-page decision brief, graphs, tables, labeled variables, and final equations for a real school or everyday-life challenge. Invite the school facilities manager, staff, peers, and families to visit booths, ask questions about constraints and viable solutions, and give feedback on how clearly each group justified its recommendation. Have students deliver a short presentation explaining how their expressions and equations led to a decision, then reflect on their learning by adding a final note to the class timeline about a key stuck point, revision, and next step.