Concord Consortium
Heights and Weights
Height is dependent on weight—or is it the other way around? Given data from a physicians handbook, individuals compare the height and weight of males and females at different areas. They calculate differences and ratios to assist with...
Concord Consortium
Graphing Elements
How do you graph a sentence? Scholars do just that as they represent relationships between independent and dependent variables with a graphical representation. Given a sentence, they determine the pertinent relationship and create a...
Concord Consortium
Graphical Depictions
Parent functions and their combinations create unique graphical designs. Learners explore these relationships with a progressive approach. Beginning with linear equations and inequalities and progressing to more complex functions,...
Concord Consortium
Gestation and Longevity
Is the gestation length of an animal a predictor of the average life expectancy of that animal? Learners analyze similar data for more than 50 different animals. They choose a data display and draw conclusions from their graphs.
Concord Consortium
Function Project
What if a coordinate plane becomes a slope-intercept plane? What does the graph of a linear function look like? Learners explore these questions by graphing the y-intercept of a linear equation as a function of its slope. The result is a...
Concord Consortium
Boards IV
Build a connection between algebraic sequences and spreadsheets. Learners examine a specific folding pattern and convert the pattern into a spreadsheet. The goal of the spreadsheet is to produce a sequence of a specific pattern modeled...
Concord Consortium
Boards III
Learn to visualize mathematical patterns as a folded pattern. Beginning with a visual display, the task encourages pupils to view sequences as a folded table. The pattern of the table then becomes a formula in a spreadsheet that...
Concord Consortium
Boards II
Build spreadsheet skills while investigating decimal multiplication. An open-ended task asks learners to edit a spreadsheet to create a multiplication table for decimals. Provided with a specific interval, pupils create formulas...
Concord Consortium
City of New Orleans
In the United States, most trains operate at a top speed of 100 miles per hour. Scholars use information on the distance and time of a train trip to determine if the train ever reaches a specific speed. They connect pieces of information...
Concord Consortium
Cities and Gas Stations
In Utah, one stretch of highway goes for 106 miles without a single gas station. Where should people build one? Scholars face the dilemma of where to place a new gas station between three cities. They consider distance and proximity to...
Concord Consortium
Cheetah's Lunch
Run like a cheetah. A performance task challenges pupils to solve several different problems involving the speed of a cheetah. Given information for scenarios where the cheetah chases its prey, they determine if the big cat is fast enough.
Concord Consortium
In Oz We Tryst
The shortest distance from point A to point B is a straight line, but measuring distance gets more complicated when there are three points! Given the location of three friends, individuals determine the best point for all three friends...
Concord Consortium
Gravity
Weight is a function of the distance from sea level. Learners explore the many implications of this fact in an inquiry-based task. Given the function, pupils answer questions before manipulating the function to rewrite the distance...
Concord Consortium
Broken Spreadsheet I
There is power in spreadsheet formulas and learners use this power to model quadratic data. Given a scatterplot of a parabola, pupils create formulas in a spreadsheet to populate the data. The formulas they use lead to an understanding...
Concord Consortium
Boards I
Learners create patterns in a table to mimic the function of an electronic spreadsheet. The result is a table that creates an addition table for decimals in intervals of one-tenth. While creating the pattern, pupils must thoroughly...
Concord Consortium
Catching Up
Class members have some catching up to do. Given a linear equation describing the distance of a runner, young mathematicians interpret the equation in terms of the context. They consider a general equation of the same form and describe...
Concord Consortium
Calculator Numbers
Know thy calculator. Young mathematicians use their calculators to answer a set of questions. They consider how the number of digits the calculator displays affects the answers to calculations. They then find examples of computations...
Concord Consortium
Build a Box
Strive for gold with an informative resource. A short task challenges learners to investigate the thickness of a box made from a given volume of gold. The box must have specific dimensions, so setting up and solving a literal equation is...
Concord Consortium
Writing and Sketching II
Find the function that fits. Scholars first identify the graph of a function that looks the same after a horizontal translation. They must then find the equation of a function whose graph lies only in two adjacent quadrants.
Concord Consortium
Writing and Sketching I
Writing and sketching functions—what more could you want to do? Learners write and sketch functions that meet certain conditions as they complete a short task. They find a parabola that encompasses three quadrants of the coordinate plane...
Smithsonian Institution
Dia de los Muertos: Honoring our Ancestors Through Community Celebration
Oral storytelling has been an important part of every culture. The time-honored practice uses stories as a conduit for a culture's values and customs from one generation to the next. Keep the tradition going with a family interview...
Concord Consortium
The Six Faces of Amzora
Here's a task that is out of this world! Given a description of a fictional cube-shaped planet, scholars answer a set of questions about the planet. They create a two-dimensional map and consider the distances between locations on the map.
Concord Consortium
Three Circles
Round and round and round we go. Given a diagram of three circles, two of which share a point with the third circle, learners identify the radius of each circle. Doing so requires setting up and solving a system of equations based on the...
Concord Consortium
Track of Dreams
Don't run from the resource—sprint to it. Using an engaging performance task, scholars consider a set of constraints on the creation of a track. Given several possible designs, they determine if the designs meet the constraints. If not,...