A rich and well-designed instructional activity on estimation is here for you. The instructional activity utilizes a video; ITV Series: The Eddie Files 'Estimation: Going to the Dogs,' along with many websites. Several fantastic learning...

Add some randomization into simulations. The 11th installment in a series of 25 presents two new methods to use in simulations--colored disks, and random numbers. Pupils use random numbers to run simulations where the probabilities make...

Watch the damage from a forest fire in this interactive simulation activity that challenges learners to estimate the burn area using different approaches. Learners are given a worksheet to track the different burn patterns and practice...

Following a catchy video about decomposing numbers, young mathematicians build and write numbers using dice. Class members work to create an anchor chart that displays six ways to make numbers. Beans get scooped and estimated, then...

Common Core is all about getting your learners to open their minds and think about the why and how. This problem has them thinking about unknown numbers and their relationship with one another when we round and...

Work it out — find the average time clients spend at a gym. Pupils use a table of random digits to collect a sample of times fitness buffs are working out. The scholars use their random sample to calculate an estimate of the mean of the...

This is great go-to activity for those spring or fall days when the weather beckons your geometry class outside. Learners start with a small tree, devising strategies to accurately estimate the leaf count. They must then tackle the...

A second attack at figuring out the number of leaves on a tree, this activity makes both an excellent follow-up to version 1 and a stand-alone activity. Learners practice setting parameters and deciding acceptable estimate precision, and...

Investigating the large numbers of science is the task in a simple but deep activity. Given a one-sentence problem set-up and some basic assumptions, the class sets off on an open-ended investigation that really gives some...

Who has the most? Young learners practice charting data using familiar information. They help fill out a classroom chart by recording the number of people, pets, televisions, etc. in their home. Guiding questions help them investigate...

What if I can no longer justify area by counting squares? Lead a class discussion to find the area of a rectangular region with irrational side lengths. The class continues on with the idea of lower approximations and...

There's nothing negative about this mini-unit on integers! Engaging young mathematicians in a series of hands-on activities and collaborative learning opportunities, this resource offers an excellent way to introduce your class...

Build up a bag of green. Pupils determine the number of green Skittles in a snack bag and come up with a way to determine how many snack bags it would take to create one bag of only green Skittles. Classmates share their methods and...

Using food as a manipulative is one of the best ways to incorporate hands-on learning in the classroom. This hands-on approach allows young mathematicians to compare, order, and identify fractions with the use of Twizzlers® and...

Captivate your class by having them find the value of their names, different zoo animals, musical instruments, etc.,with a mental math lesson. Using the coding formula listed, children learn to fluently estimate and calculate...

In an introductory lesson, youngsters take a pre-assessment quiz, get a grasp of a gram of mass, and then estimate the mass of microorganisms that live within a human body. Using Glo Germ™, a material that allows you to simulate the...

This unit on fractions allows for upper-aged elementary learners to explore ways to find the greatest common factor and least common multiple of two numbers. Ultimately, young mathematicians will be able to identify equivalent fractions,...

if you've ever had to guess how many items were in a jar, then this problem is for you! With a big jar full of red and white marbles, does picking a sample of 16 allow your learners to get a good estimate on the percentages of each...

What makes a good sample? Your classes collaborate to answer this question through a task involving areas of rectangles. Given a set of 100 rectangles, they sample a set of five rectangles to estimate the average area of the figures. The...

Your archaeologists begin this task with a table of values to estimate the time passed based on the half-life of Carbon 14 remaining in a plant. They then move on to find when a specific amount of Carbon 14 is present in the same plant,...

Emerging statisticians develop the ability to make inferences from sample data while also working on proportional relationships in general. Here, young learners examine samples for bias, and then use random samples to make...

Are the means the same or not? Groups create samples from a bag of numbers and calculate the sample means. Using the sample means as an estimate for the population mean, scholars try to determine whether the difference is real or not.

In an open-ended problem, learners calculate costs involved in driving an ice cream van. Is it better to park in one place or drive through different neighborhoods? Learners look at these and other factors and must make reasonable...

Take the resource out of the file cabinet. Young mathematicians estimate the number of sticky notes it would take to cover the surface area of a file cabinet. They answer a set of questions on how the number of sticky notes would change...