Scientific notation is a way to assess the order of magnitude and to visually decrease the zeros that the student sees. It also may assist students with comparing very large (or very small numbers). Most students have little intuition about scientific notation. Teaching them to recognize that scientific notation is a short hand way to better understand big and small numbers can be useful to them in all aspects of their academic career.
Place value will be reviewed prior to implementation of this lesson. Vocabulary will be pre-taught and reviewed. Students in this class have extreme difficulty with simple commutations, terminology and mathematical reasoning. This lesson may take three plus days depending on how students are grasping scientific notation.