West Contra Costa Unified School District
Particle Motion
Derivatives are useful for many things — they can even keep track of particle motion. An informative lesson plan provides an introduction to the idea of the second derivative in particle motion. Class members determine the velocity...
Illustrative Mathematics
Modeling London's Population
Looking at London's population from 1801–1961 in 20 year increments, high school mathematicians determine if the data can be modeled by a given logistic growth equation. They explain their thinking and determine the values of each...
Illustrative Mathematics
Building a General Quadratic Function
Rewrite a quadratic function to easily see the transformations involved. The instructional task takes a general quadratic function and rewrites it into a form that shows the translations and scaling of the parent quadratic function. The...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
What van Leeuwenhoek Saw
When van Leeuwenhoek saw cells and single-celled organisms for the first time, he knew these small things were a big deal! Share his discoveries with young learners through a narrated video, model-building activity, and scale study....
Mathematics Vision Project
Module 7: Structure of Expressions
The structure of an expression is a descriptive feature. Learners build a solid understanding of quadratic functions using an analysis of expressions in different forms. The seventh module in a series of nine includes 12 lessons...
Mathematics Vision Project
Module 5: Rational Functions and Expressions
Where do those asymptotes come from? Learners graph, simplify, and solve rational functions in the fifth module of a 10-part series. Beginning with graphing, pupils determine the key characteristics of the graphs including an in-depth...
Curated OER
Jobs and Professions: Grammar
While talking about jobs and professions, discuss masculine and feminine nouns. When given a list of masculine nouns, learners have to decide how to make that noun feminine. In addition, they will edit a short paragraph that currently...
Mathematics Assessment Project
Representing Trigonometric Functions
Discover the classic example of periodicity: Ferris wheels. Young mathematicians learn about trigonometric functions through Ferris wheels. They match functions to their graphs and relate the functions to the context.
Mathematics Assessment Project
Representing Functions of Everyday Situations
Functions help make the world make more sense. Individuals model real-world situations with functions. They match a variety of contexts to different function types to finish a helpful resource.
Illustrative Mathematics
Graphs of Quadratic Functions
The equations look different, but their graphs are the same. How can that be? This activity leads your mathematicians in an exploration of three different forms of the same quadratic function. After comparing the equations, their graphs,...
Mathematics Assessment Project
Representing Quadratic Functions Graphically
Sometimes being different is an advantage. An engaging activity has scholars match cards with quadratic functions in various forms. Along the way, they learn about how each form highlights key features of quadratic functions.
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
Interpreting Algebraic Expressions
The title of this lesson should be "Algebraic Expressions Four Ways." Not only will your class be translating verbal descriptions of algebraic expressions to symbols, but also working with their geometric interpretation via area as well...
Illustrative Mathematics
The Sign of Solutions
Positive or negative, zero or no solution, are all possibilities for the solution of a linear equation. Here the resource gives examples of linear equations in one variable and their type of solutions. The resource comes with commentary...
Illustrative Mathematics
An Integer Identity
Challenge algebra learners to use the difference of cubes to solve this problem. Once your charges have taken out the factor (a - b), combined the like terms and set them equal to zero, the problem becomes a factorable quadratic...
Illustrative Mathematics
Kitchen Floor Tiles
An interesting way to look at the kitchen floor is to count the number of tiles in the border. Fred starts with four white floor tiles and writes an expression for the number of tiles needed for the colored border. Algebra learners are...
Illustrative Mathematics
The Physics Professor
Help mathematicians see that a formula found in a physics book has an algebraic structure. Though the formula given in the resource looks complicated, learners are to break down the expressions and interpret each part separately....
Curated OER
Mixing Candies
Mixture problems are a classic in first-year algebra. Unfortunately, many learners approach them in a formulaic fashion and don't truly understand the meaning of the algebraic expressions they are using. Here, the questions are not the...
Curated OER
A Lifetime of Savings
Sometimes people who seem to lead what would be considered an ordinary life do extraordinary things. Such was the case with Oseola McCarty, who donated a large sum of money for a university scholarship fund in her name. Oseala lived her...
Illustrative Mathematics
Animal Populations
Assume all you know is that the variable Q represents a value that is bigger than the value represented by the variable P. Which is larger P + Q or 2P? The problems in this activity get more complex than that example, and they do a good...
Curated OER
Course of Antibiotics
This model of the amount of anibiotics in a person's system is represented abstractly by a finite geometric series. Learners translate this real-life situation into algebraic form and then extend their knowlege by answering questions...
Curated OER
Cantor Set
Discover an interesting mathematical object that your algebra learners will enjoy investigating. Their adventure will lead them to the generation of a finite geometric series.
Curated OER
Forms of Exponential Expressions
Your young physicists analyze the forms of four equivalent exponential expressions representing an amount of a radioactive material in a substance. They show how each expression is equivalent to the others and what aspects of the decay...
Curated OER
Taxes and Sales
Collaborative discussions around this retail store problem will be taxing. Calculating discount and tax and the order of the operations are used to motivate an opportunity for learners to make a convincing argument using algebraic...
Curated OER
Building a General Quadratic Function
Learners rewrite a general quadratic function by completing the square to see a new form of the function that more easily identifies the x-coordinate of the vertex and the two roots of the function.