San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Water from the Well
How much water does it take to brush your teeth? How about to wash your clothes? Perform an experiment that measures water usage in everyday tasks and compares them to the days before indoor plumbing, specifically the California...
Teach Engineering
Bridge Types: Tensile and Compressive Forces
Bridges rely on tension and compression to keep them standing. Pairs test this principle by constructing simple bridges and applying a force to the center. Teams use the provided worksheet to record their observations of the...
Curriculum Corner
Guest Teacher Plans: Grade 6
Taking a day off of school can feel like a lot more work than going because of the time and effort that goes into making sub plans. Make your life easier with a daily plan for a guest teacher designed to meet the needs of sixth...
Teach Engineering
Alloy the Way to Mars
Future engineers test different alloys to determine the specific strength of each one. Based on the results, they make a recommendation to NASA on which alloy to use on engines for spacecraft.
Discovery Education
Weathering Cubes
Weathering is not necessarily a result of the weather. Scholars conduct an experiment to explore the effect of surface area and volume on the weathering process. They create their own sugar cube rocks using the same number of cubes—but...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Natural Selection and the Evolution of Darwin's Finches
Darwin explained the connection between species of finches 150 years before scientists understood DNA. Technology and progressing science proved he was right, yet many struggle to understand how natural selection happens. Scholars use...
Rainforest Alliance
Forests of Guatemala
With 90 percent of its land area covered in forests, Suriname, a country in South America, contains the largest percentage of forests throughout the world. Here is an activity that brings classmates together to learn about the...
Curated OER
Sextant Solutions
Middle schoolers explore ways a sextant can be a reliable tool that is still being used by today's navigators and how computers can help assure accuracy when measuring angles. This activity will show how computers can be used to...
Curated OER
Net "Working"
Upper elementary and middle schoolers explore the properties of various polygons. They use video, resource links, and engage in hands-on activities in order to construct geometric nets. This fine plan should lead to increased...
Curated OER
Does Sunlight Effect Leaf Size?
Students make estimates and then measure leaves for accuracy. They calculate the area of the leaves by drawing an outline on graph paper and counting the squares. They compare the leaves exposed to sunlight to those that are in constant...
Curated OER
Discover the Pythagorean Theorem
Students explore the Pythagoras theorem. In this geometry activity, students make right triangles and identify the parts of the triangle. Students complete measurements of the sides of the triangle.
Curated OER
Analyzing Discrete and Continuous Data in a Spreadsheet
You are what you eat! Your statisticians keep a log of what they eat from anywhere between a day to more than a week, keeping track of a variety of nutritional information using a spreadsheet. After analyzing their own data, individuals...
Curated OER
Acid (and Base) Rainbows
Students are introduced to the differences between acids and bases and how to use indicators, such as pH paper and red cabbage juice, to distinguish between them. They make predictions that can be answered through scientific...
Curated OER
Scaling Up Art
Students measure a sculpture of a human and measure other students. They determine the average size of humans and create a life size image of the sculpture. They work with percentages as they create the images.
Curated OER
Small Angle Calculations
Students work with circles, angles and estimating angles in the night sky. For this circles and angles lesson, students practice measuring a degree using the circumference of a circle and apply the degree to determine a way to use their...
Curated OER
Hypatia: Angles
Introduce your young geometers to Hypatia, the first noted Greek female mathematician, and the properties of angles. Though this resource is missing worksheets that are needed to complete the lesson, the structure is sound and learning...
Curated OER
Mean Absolute Deviation in Dot Plots
The lesson plan focuses on the ideas of dot plot representations and the mean absolute deviation of data sets.
Curated OER
The Metric System
Learners practice converting metric measurements by completing the activities listed in this lesson plan. They first practice measuring common objects. They then convert metric measurements using the included worksheet.
Curated OER
Mean and Standard Deviation
Get two activities with one activity. The first activity, is appropriate for grades 6-12 and takes about 20 minutes. It introduces the concept of measures of central tendency, primarily the mean, and discusses its uses as well as its...
Curated OER
"Mummies--The Great Cover Up"
Learners wrap their mummy, use canopic-style jars for the preserved chicken organs and design and decorate a sarcophagus. They collect data by weighing, measuring and graphing their "mummy" and its organs.
Curated OER
Through India and Back
Students play a game based on "The Amazing Race" to practice using rates and fractions. For this fractions and rates lesson, students work in small groups competing to complete the tasks in the quickest time. At each stage of the...
Curated OER
Great Designs
For this measuring worksheet, students use a centimeter ruler to measure the perimeter of 3 figures. They then draw 4 shapes in the grid on the page.
Curated OER
Height versus Shoe Size
Students find a correlation between a person's height and his/her shoe size. They have access to entering data into lists on a graphing calculator and can complete scatter plots. Students read and interpret a scatter plot and use the...
Curated OER
Integers in the Weather
Middle schoolers engage in a clever lesson that combines meteorology with mathematical thinking. They use integers in relation to high and low temperatures that they record. They use a spreadsheet of weather data, a computer, and gain...