Willow Tree
Line Graphs
Some data just doesn't follow a straight path. Learners use line graphs to represent data that changes over time. They use the graphs to analyze the data and make conclusions.
Chicago Botanic Garden
Historical Climate Cycles
What better way to make predictions about future weather and climate patterns than with actual climate data from the past? Young climatologists analyze data from 400,000 to 10,000 years ago to determine if climate has changed over...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Climate Change Around the World
Look at climate change around the world using graphical representations and a hands-on learning simulation specified to particular cities around the world. Using an interactive website, young scientists follow the provided...
EngageNY
Interpreting Quadratic Functions from Graphs and Tables
Seeing functions in nature is a beautiful part of mathematics by analyzing the motion of a dolphin over time. Then take a look at the value of a stock and maximize the profit of a new toy. Explore the application of quadratics by...
PBS
The Lowdown — Exploring Changing Obesity Rates through Ratios and Graphs
Math and medicine go hand-in-hand. After viewing several infographics on historical adult obesity rates, pupils consider how they have changed over time. They then use percentages to create a new graph and write a list of questions the...
Willow Tree
Bar Graphs
Circles, lines, dots, boxes: graphs come in all shapes in sizes. Scholars learn how to make a bar graph using univariate data. They also analyze data using those bar graphs.
EngageNY
Graphs of Simple Nonlinear Functions
Time to move on to nonlinear functions. Scholars create input/output tables and use these to graph simple nonlinear functions. They calculate rates of change to distinguish between linear and nonlinear functions.
US Department of Commerce
Immigration Nation
People come and people go. Given tabular census data on the annual number of immigrants from four different regions of the world between 2000 and 2010, pupils create double bar graphs and line graphs from the data. They analyze their...
US Environmental Protection Agency
Weather and Climate: What's the Difference?
Future weather forecasters collect daily temperatures over a period of time. Afterward, they compare their data with monthly averages, as researched on national weather websites, in order to grasp the difference between weather and...
PBS
Real-World Proportional Relationships: Gender Wage Gap
When will the gender wage gap disappear? Scholars use a provided infographic to see trends in wage gap over time. They use ratios of women's wages to men's wages to determine which decades had the greatest change in the wage gap. The...
Illustrative Mathematics
Logistic Growth Model, Abstract Version
Here learners get to flex some serious algebraic muscles through an investigation of logistic growth. The properties of the constant terms in the logistic growth formula are unraveled in a short but content-dense...
PBS
Analyzing Light Curves of Transiting Exoplanets
Scientists detected exoplanets by measuring how the brightness of stars changed over time. Young astronomers interpret and analyze the same data that led to exoplanet discoveries. They learn to apply light curve graphs and connect the...
NOAA
History's Thermometers
How is sea coral like a thermometer? Part three of a six-part series from NOAA describes how oceanographers can use coral growth to estimate water temperature over time. Life science pupils manipulate data to determine the age of corals...
Balanced Assessment
On Averages and Curves
Determine the average on a curve. The class finds graphical representations of averages and expresses them both symbolically and on the graph. The assessment requires class members to justify using average to describe graphs.
California Education Partners
Summer Olympics
Quickly get to the decimal point. The last assessment in a nine-part series requires scholars to work with decimals. Pupils compare the race times of several athletes and calculate how much they have improved over time. During the second...
Inside Mathematics
Squares and Circles
It's all about lines when going around. Pupils graph the relationship between the length of a side of a square and its perimeter. Class members explain the origin in context of the side length and perimeter. They compare the graph to the...
Balanced Assessment
Vacation in Bramilia
This performance task gives the population model of different types of flies and asks scholars to analyze the two populations. After interpreting the functions individually, participants compare the two populations and find the time...
Balanced Assessment
Produce Stand
Interpret a graph of the number of oranges at a produce stand to determine a likely event at different times. They also analyze the graph to determine which time period oranges were selling most quickly.
Balanced Assessment
Ford and Ferrari
Which is faster, a Ford or a Ferrari? The short assessment has pupils analyze graphs to determine the rates of change between the two. Individuals interpret the rates of change within the context of speeds of the cars and develop a map...
EngageNY
Solution Sets to Simultaneous Equations (part 1)
How are systems related? Build on your pupils' previous knowledge of solving systems of equations by introducing systems of inequalities. Learners explore similarities between systems of equations and inequalities to make a strong...
Balanced Assessment
Para-Ball-A
Analyze the flight of a thrown ball. Learners determine the maximum height of a thrown ball and the time it takes to hit the ground given its initial speed. They continue to review different scenarios with different maximums or...
CK-12 Foundation
Butterfly Stroke
Swimmers improve their times by understanding the physics of their sport. As a swimmer moves through the water, the efficiency of motion affects the resulting velocity. Through an interactive simulation, pupils change the level of motion...
National Wildlife Federation
Wherefore Art Thou, Albedo?
In the sixth instructional activity in a series of 21, scholars use NASA data to graph and interpret albedo seasonally and over the course of multiple years. This allows learners to compare albedo trends to changes in sea ice with...
Federal Reserve Bank
FRED in the Classroom: Measures of Inflation
Don't just tell class members about how to measure inflation, have them experience it firsthand by asking them to work with real data and construct graphs!