Suggested Money Lesson Plan
for this Worksheet
A recipe includes the instructions and
ingredients needed for cooking a meal. Included with those
instructions is information about how many people the meal
is for, or the number of servings. When we want to
cook the meal ourselves, we will need to often adjust the recipe
to accommodate the number of people being served, which
requires an understanding of basic mathematics.
One way to adjust a recipe is to calculate a
conversion multiple. For example, if the recipe is for 2
people, and we need to serve 4, then the conversion multiple is 4
divided by 2, or 2.
We then multiply all the ingredients in the recipe by the
conversion multiple. In this case, 2.
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Conversion
Multiple = |
Number of servings needed
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Number of serving in the recipe |
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For example:, here is a recipe for homemade
cookies:
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 egg
Question:
If the above recipe serves 12 people, then what
should the ingredients be for 24 people?
Answer:
Conversion Multiple = 24 divided by 12 = 2
Therefore, multiply each ingredient by 2.
6 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups butter
4 cups sugar
2 eggs.
Teaching Suggestions:
Before the lesson, have each student bring in
his or her favorite recipe. The teacher should bring in
his or her favorite recipe as well. Use this recipe as an
example for the class, and demonstrate changing the servings to
a different amount. Then, ask
the students to do the same with their own recipes. First
have them increase the servings (multiplication), then have them decrease the
servings(division).
Note: Keep in mind that when adjusting
recipes in the real-world, that we do not always need to measure
to the exact amount, as it sometimes makes more sense to round to the
appropriate amount. For example, 15/16ths of a tablespoon
would be realistically 1 tablespoon. Also, spices may not increase at
the same rate. For example a dash of pepper may still be a
dash of pepper.
Questions for discussion:
Show a sample recipe to the class. Ask
the class what information the recipe contains. How can we adjust the
recipe to accommodate more or less people?
What mathematics is needed for cooking?
(multiplication and division)
What do we need to do to increase the number of
servings? (multiply)
What do we need to do to decrease the number of
servings? (divide)
Vocabulary:
recipe
servings
ingredients
conversion multiple
Use the following worksheet for students
practice with recipes, and to evaluate students' ability to
adjust recipes with multiplication and division.
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