Show a scene from the movie "Zoolander". In one scene, one character, Mugato, makes a model of a school building to show to the main character, Zoolander. Zoolander gets upset because he believes that no one could possibly fit in the building because it is too small, not realizing that he is looking at a scale model. He thinks that the model is a full size representation of the school. This is an example of a humorous misunderstanding of proportional reasoning.

• Let the viewing of the scene lead into a discussion of proportional reasoning and why it is so important.
• Next, as a class, measure the dimensions of the classroom [An interesting extension would be to have some students measure in feet and inches and others in meters and then see which measurement system is easier to work in for scale drawings].
• Then ask students how they would fit the classroom on a standard sized sheet of paper and keep everything in proportional. Determine a correct scale and have students create a scale drawing of the classroom.
• Students can include other objects in the classroom as well to practice their proportional reasoning.

Ask students how the scale would change if they are asked to draw the whole school on that sheet of paper? Would the scale increase or decrease? How much? This type of questioning will led students into a rich discussion of proportional reasoning.

For additional practice, have students complete the same activity using other objects in the classroom.