In this Model Eliciting Activity, MEA, students will be required to rank musical instrument lesson packages based on the price, the number of minutes of practice each week, and the quality of the instructor.

Part of the task involves students figuring out the elapsed time of the lessons based on their start and stop times. They will also need to figure out the total weekly cost of the lessons based on the number of lessons offered per week and the cost of each lesson based on its length.

The twist will require students to determine whether or not to revise their ranking based on new information about the cost of instrument rentals per lesson and the class size of each package.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx