Balanced Assessment
Egyptian Statue
Investigate the proportional relationships of length, area, and volume. Learners use the dimensions of rectangular prisms to create ratios and proportions. They compare the different ratios to solve more advanced problems.
Balanced Assessment
Ostrich and Seahorse
Examine the relationship between ratios and scale. Young math scholars compare ratios of two models. They use the ratios to make a comparison between the two models. Each image uses a different scale, which requires learners to think...
Curriculum Corner
Unit Rate Problem Solving
Eight word problems and a well organized answer sheet make up a practice page designed to reinforce unit rates.
Curated OER
Build Your Dream Science Lab
Would your ideal science lab be filled with bubbling beakers and zapping Tesla coils? Or would it contain state-of-the-art computer technology and data analysis? Dream big with an innovative lesson that connects math and language...
Noyce Foundation
Photographs
Scaling needs to be picture perfect. Pupils use proportional reasoning to find the missing dimension of a photo. Class members determine the sizes of paper needed for two configurations of pictures in the short assessment task.
Noyce Foundation
Mixing Paints
Let's paint the town equal parts yellow and violet, or simply brown. Pupils calculate the amount of blue and red paint needed to make six quarts of brown paint. Individuals then explain how they determined the percentage of the brown...
Noyce Foundation
Cereal
Find the best protein-packed cereal. The short assessment task covers equivalent and comparing ratios within a context. Pupils determine the cereal with the highest ratio of protein. A rubric helps teachers with point allotments for...
Noyce Foundation
Truffles
Knowing how to scale a recipe is an important skill. Young mathematicians determine the amount of ingredients they need to make a certain number of truffles when given a recipe. They determine a relationship between ingredients given a...
Noyce Foundation
Sewing
Sew up your unit on operations with decimals using this assessment task. Young mathematicians use given rules to determine the amount of fabric they need to sew a pair of pants. They must also fill in a partially complete bill for...
Bowland
Public Transport
"Statistics is the grammar of science" -Karl Pearson. In the assessment task, learners read a claim made by a newspaper and analyze its conclusions. They need to think about the sample and the wording of the given statistics.
Bowland
Day Out
Use mathematics to help plan a field trip. Scholars use the results of a survey to determine where a class should go on a field trip. They use provided data about entrance fees and mileage to calculate the cost per person of such a...
Bowland
Outbreak: Infection Detection
Explore the mathematics of infection outbreaks with activities that ask learners to use coordinate grids to locate infected patients. They calculate amounts of ingredients for antidotes and determine which groups of people should be...
Bowland
In the Olympics, are Women Improving Faster than Men?
Will the time come when women outperform men at the Olympic Games?Scholars investigate gender differences in Olympic Games performances. They study the historical participation of women and then analyze data to determine if women will...
Bowland
Highway Link Design
Discover a renewed appreciation for the highway transportation department. with a lesson that has scholars design a highway route that meets certain conditions, including traffic flow, curves, speed limits, financial costs, and...
Bowland
Design the Mascot
Explore how resizing an object affects its area. The set of lessons challenges young mathematicians to design a mascot for electronic devices. These designs undergo resizing to determine how scale factors of dilation affect area.
Bowland
AstroZoo
Rescue animals in the zoo by applying math concepts. Groups of learners solve three missions involving oxygen, food, and climate control. Each group selects an animal from one of four bio-domes.
Noyce Foundation
Lawn Mowing
This is how long we mow the lawn together. The assessment requires the class to work with combining ratios and proportional reasoning. Pupils determine the unit rate of mowers and calculate the time required to mow a lawn if they work...
Bowland
Reducing Road Accidents
By making the following changes to the roads, we can prevent several accidents. A multiple-day lesson prompts pupils to investigate accidents in a small town. Pairs develop a proposal on what to do to help reduce the number of...
Balanced Assessment
Who's Left?
If you're not right-handed, are you wrong-handed? Young statisticians calculate the percentage of left-handed people using a given data set in the assessment task. They plot data on a scatter plot and consider how the line of best fit...
Balanced Assessment
Solar Elements
Let your brilliance shine like the sun. Future mathematicians and scientists consider given data on the abundance of different elements in the sun. The assessment task requires consideration of how these different abundances relate to...
Balanced Assessment
At the Supermarket
Grocery managers and chefs sure use lots of math. Scholars first use ratios and unit rates to determine a price for a can of corn. Once individuals have the pricing, they determine the amount of ingredients necessary to make brownies...
Yummy Math
US Holiday Candy Sales
Candy is a big business! Calculate the amount of money consumers spent on major holidays—Easter, Halloween, Christmas, Hanukkah, and Valentine's Day—based on the total amount of candy sales from 2011 and the percentage of each holiday's...
Mathematics Assessment Project
Classifying Proportion and Non-Proportion Situations
Proportions, proportions, everywhere. Class members complete an assessment task solving problems involving proportionality. They then complete an activity classifying given situations as proportional or non-proportional.
Mathematics Assessment Project
Sharing Costs Equitably: Traveling to School
Drive or take the school bus? Class members determine the amount each student would have to pay in a carpool situation. They then evaluate the cost in a set of provided examples. I think I'd rather take the school...