Balanced Assessment
House Plan
A short assessment has individuals determine the scale of a house plan. They use the scale to calculate the size of a door and window that need to be replaced, and then divide a bedroom in two, calculating the size of rooms created.
Balanced Assessment
School Zone
Find the right house within walking distance from school. The short assessment has pupils determine the houses that are a given maximum distance from a school. Individuals then determine the shortest and longest walks from the homes that...
Balanced Assessment
A Run for Two
Develop a graph to represent the distance between two cars. The assessment task presents a scenario in which two cars are traveling at constant speeds with one faster than the other. Pupils develop graphical representations to show the...
Balanced Assessment
A Loud Noise
In a scale measuring noise, an increase in 10 dB is a 10 time increase in power. Mathematicians examine the data graph of a real world exponential growth, with no logarithmic scale, and then create two equations relating the decibels and...
Balanced Assessment
Fermi Length
How long does it take to get to the end of a toilet paper roll? Pupils use their estimation strategies to find lengths of common items. For example, knowing the area of a roll of toilet paper, scholars determine the length of the full roll.
Teach Engineering
Measuring Surface Tension
How do you measure surface tension? The fifth installment of a nine-part series is an experiment where young scientists use tubes of different sizes to measure surface tension. They calculate the average and standard deviation of the...
Inside Mathematics
Swimming Pool
Swimming is more fun with quantities. The short assessment task encompasses finding the volume of a trapezoidal prism using an understanding of quantities. Individuals make a connection to the rate of which the pool is filled with a...
Teach Engineering
Microfluidic Devices and Flow Rate
When you have to flow, you have to flow. The lesson introduces class members to microfluidic devices and their uses in medicine. They watch a short video on how the diameter affects the rate of flow. The worksheet has individuals...
PBS
Analyzing Stop and Frisk Through Personal Stories and Infographics
How much can you learn about an important topic from a single image? High schoolers analyze an infographic that represents the number of stops performed during the Stop and Frisk police procedure. After building background information...
Teach Engineering
What is a Nanometer?
Teams learn about the size of a nanometer by measuring objects and converting those measurements. A instructional activity then tests the groups' abilities to use nanometers by having them determine the size of objects that are too small...
California Mathematics Project
For the Birds
It turns out math IS for the birds! Here, learners use mathematical reasoning to determine how often someone needs to fill a bird feeder. The rate the feeder empties varies by the number of holes that are available to the birds. Day two...
California Mathematics Project
Model Solar System
The sun's diameter is 864,337 miles—challenge learners to create a scale model of the solar system that fits in your classroom. Scholars make conversions and work with scientific notation as they create the scale model.
Jason Learning
Tech in the Cycle
It might not be easy, but it is worth recycling electronics. Small groups determine the percentage of the materials that make up an iPad 2 and display the information in a circle graph. They then research the recycling process for...
Teach Engineering
Water Remediation Lab
Water filtration — that's pure genius! Groups test the ability of a water filter to purify water by running chlorine contaminated water through a filter and measuring the chlorine concentrations as they filter the water. They then graph...
Teach Engineering
Measuring Viscosity
Groups use a marble to determine the viscosity of household fluids. The procedure calls for pupils to measure the amount of time it takes a marble to fall a specified distance in the fluids. Using unit conversions and algebra, the teams...
Teach Engineering
May the Magnetic Force Be with You
Class members use mathematics in order to better understand magnetic forces and their interaction on charged particles. After a demonstration of the interaction between a magnet and an electron beam using a CRT computer monitor, learners...
Mathematics Assessment Project
Yogurt
Daily production of dairy? Determine profit and production requirements for a yogurt company with unit conversions and percentages to solve problems.
Mathematics Assessment Project
Leaky Faucet
In the assessment task, learners investigate the rate at which a faucet leaks. They use unit conversions to determine the amount of water that leaks in a year. Maybe they should just fix the leak!
Willow Tree
Dimensional Analysis
Convey to your pupils the importance of units, then show how to use dimensional analysis to perform a unit conversion. The math lesson includes detailed worked-out solutions to guide learners in their practice.
Willow Tree
Measurement
Build a basic understanding of units of measure and create a great foundation for your learners. The lesson gives a complete overview of everything measurement, from types of measurement to rounding to conversions — it has it all!
Achieve
Greenhouse Management
Who knew running a greenhouse required so much math? Amaze future mathematicians and farmers with the amount of unit conversions, ratio and proportional reasoning, and geometric applications involved by having them complete the...
Teach Engineering
Tippy Tap Plus Piping
Getting water to a tap requires an understanding the fundamentals of fluid flow. Groups design, build, and test a piping system to get water from the source — a five gallon bucket — to a tippy tap. The objective is to be able to fill...
Achieve
Ground Beef
Ever wonder how a butcher creates the different types of ground beef? Young mathematicians explore the methods butchers use to create their desired ground beef quality. Given a combination of two types of meat with varying leanness,...
Achieve
Yogurt Packaging
Food companies understand how to use math to their advantage. Learners explore the math related to the packaging and serving size of yogurt. They then use unit analysis and percent values to make decisions on the product development.