American Statistical Association
What is the Probability of “Pigging Out”
Learners apply their understanding of luck to a probability experiment. They play a game of Pass the Pigs to determine the probability of a specific outcome. Using analysis for their data, pupils declare the measures of center, dot...
Illustrative Mathematics
Interpreting a Division Computation
Mathematicians show their understanding of a division problem. If a student can apply long division to a pair of numbers and determine a quotient, what other factors and multiples become apparent? The example illustrates a simple...
Illustrative Mathematics
Voting for Three, Variation 3
Get your learners to think outside the box. Students require a good understanding of ratios and their relationship to fractions to complete the problem. The only quantities given in the problem are the ratio of the number of votes for...
Curated OER
Stock Swaps, Variation 2
If Microsoft wanted to take over Apple, how many shares would they need to break even? This is an ideal task for seventh graders who are studying proportional relationships and applying them to real-world scenarios. Use it as an...
Curated OER
Word Problem Practice Workbook
Need worksheets that challenge your middle schoolers to apply their understanding of math? Problem solved! From integers, fractions, and percents, to algebra, geometry, and probability, over 100 pages of word problem worksheets...
Mascil Project
Circular Pave-Stones Backyard
Pack the lesson into your plans. Young mathematicians learn about packing and optimization with the context of circular paving stones. They use coins to model the paving stones, and then apply knowledge of circles and polygons to...
Education World
Putting Turkey on a Table (or a Graph)
Grateful learners put turkey on a table (or a graph)! Through a creative project they show statistical information about turkey population, production, and consumption. A great Thanksgiving lesson that can be applied at any time to the...
Curated OER
Linguistic Diversity. Languages in Canada - Elementary
Create a language mosaic to reveal the linguistic diversity in your community. Pupils interview a person with a home language other than English and contribute to a bulletin board display representing the variety of languages spoken. The...
Discovery Education
Discovering Math: Exploring Geometry
Apply geometric properties and formulae for surface area and volume by constructing a three-dimensional model of a city. Learners use similar and congruent figures and transformations to create a city of at least 10 buildings. They trade...
Curated OER
Residential Power System
Perform data analysis on energy consumption to apply algebraic expressions to the real world. Learners will write and solve equations that answer various questions from residential power use. They will collect data at home and calculate...
Wells Fargo
Hands on Banking
Cha-ching! You just hit the jackpot with this interactive consumer math unit. Supported by a series of online lessons and activities, these lessons engage students in applying their math skills to real-life personal...
University of California
Energy and Biomass Pyramids
Young scientists play tag as they act out the food pyramid in the ocean ecosystem. Energy circles pass from the smaller prey to the predators and at the end of the activity, a data chart and analysis questions allow pupils to apply their...
Teach Engineering
Chair Design
Can you design the perfect chair? Scholars apply the engineering design process to design and build a prototype of a new type of chair from wires. They test their designs with a wooden artist model or stuffed animal.
Kenan Fellows
A Farmer’s Challenge to Breed to the Greatest of Grapes
What does your class know about GMOs? Are they savvy to selective breeding? Challenge young minds to engineer the greatest crop of all time using a hands-on genetics unit. Learners discover the good and bad details of selective breeding,...
Concord Consortium
Twinkle, Twinkle
Take a look at a star resource. Young mathematicians use a graphing calculator to draw intersecting lines that look like a star. They then apply translations to move the entire star and also consider what transformations must occur to...
Concord Consortium
Divisions
Divide and conquer the geometry problem. Young scholars consider how to subdivide triangles into smaller ones that have equal areas. They must apply their knowledge of medians to help accomplish the task.
American Statistical Association
Tell it Like it is!
Scholars apply prior knowledge of statistics to write a conclusion. They summarize using correct academic language and tell the story of the data.
Curated OER
Bird and Dog Race
Your pupil's pet dog and bird are racing down the city streets. In order to know who is going to win, they better know something about calculating rates, the Pythagorean Theorem, and applying those topics to the map of the city.
Illustrative Mathematics
US Garbage, Version 1
An interesting example of a discrete function and how it is applies to the real world. This could easily make a good collaborative lesson with an environmental science class. Practice reading a table and drawing a scatter plot make up...
Illustrative Mathematics
Fixing the Furnace
This comprehensive resource applies simultaneous equations to a real-life problem. Though the commentary starts with a graph, some home consumers may choose to begin with a table. A graph does aid learners to visualize the shift of one...
Illustrative Mathematics
Comparing Years
Who knew that the Egyptian, Julian, and Gregorian year were different lengths? Your mathematicians will! They will have to calculate the difference between the years in seconds and find the percent change. Using dimensional analysis,...
Illustrative Mathematics
Gifts from Grandma, Variation 3
There are three money word problems in this activity, each one is set in the same context. The first asks what was the total amount grandma spent, the second how many grandchildren grandma has, and the third asks how much grandma spent...
Curated OER
The Circumference of a Circle and the Area of the Region it Encloses
Bring your math class around with this task. Learners simply identify parts of a given circle, compute its radius, and estimate the circumference and area. It is a strong scaffolding exercise in preparation for applying the formulas for...
Mascil Project
Design and Build Your Own Vacuum Cleaner, Hair Dryer or Toy Car
No vacuum cleaner? No problem, just build your own. Scholars apply knowledge of currents to build a model of either a vacuum clear, a hair dryer, or a toy car. While the class completes the activity, instructors consider gender...