Lesson Plan
Illustrative Mathematics

Weather Graph Data

For Teachers K - 2nd Standards
Teaching young mathematicians about collecting and analyzing data allows for a variety of fun and engaging activities. Here, children observe the weather every day for a month, recording their observations in the form of a bar graph....
Lesson Plan
NASA

Erosion and Landslides

For Teachers 6th - 8th
A professional-quality PowerPoint, which includes links to footage of actual landslides in action, opens this moving lesson. Viewers learn what conditions lead to erosion and land giving way. They simulate landslides with a variety of...
Activity
Fort Bend Independent School District

Data Analysis - AP Statistics

For Students 11th - Higher Ed Standards
What better way to study survey design than to design your own survey! Bring a versatile data analysis project to your AP Statistics class, and encourage them to apply the practices from their instructions to a real-world survey...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using Vegetation, Precipitation, and Surface Temperature to Study Climate Zones

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Using NASA's Live Access Server, earth scientists compare the temperature, precipitation, and normalized difference vegetation index for four different locations. They use the data to identify the climate zone of each location using...
Lesson Plan
Omaha Zoo

I Like to Move It

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
What do lemurs do best? They move! Lemurs like to jump, run, hop, and climb and it's your class's job to document seven fun lemur behaviors. The class starts by discussing why lemurs are considered primates, and then they isolate seven...
Activity
US Department of Commerce

Make Data Speak

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Data displays are more than just a bunch of numbers. Small groups access census results and create eye-catching data displays. Teams choose a statistic and collect data points for five locations. Classmates present their infographics to...
Activity
Regents Prep

Activity to Show Sample Population and Bias

For Teachers 7th - 9th Standards
There is bias in many aspects of our lives, and math is no exception! Learners explore provided data to understand the meaning of biased and random samples. The resource includes various data sets from the same population, and...
Activity
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Teach Engineering

Where Are the Plastics Near Me? (Mapping the Data)

For Teachers 7th - 9th
The last activity in a nine-part series has teams create a Google Earth map using the data they collected during a field trip. Using the map, groups analyze the results and make adjustments to the map to reflect their analysis. A short...
Activity
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Spreadsheet Tutorial 2: Autofill Data, Cell References, and Standard Deviation

For Students 9th - 12th
If you've always wanted to know more about spreadsheets, here's a perfect resource for you. A self-paced tutorial introduces how to autofill and copy formulas in a Google sheet or Excel spreadsheet. It also shows users how to find range,...
Lesson Plan
Illustrative Mathematics

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor

For Teachers Pre-K - 2nd Standards
What better way to engage children in a math lesson than by talking about ice cream? Using a pocket chart or piece of chart paper, the class works together creating a bar graph of the their favorite ice cream flavors. Learners then work...
Activity
US Department of Commerce

Census in Counties - Describing and Comparing Histograms to Understand American Life

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Use graphs to interpret life in 136 counties. Pupils analyze histograms and describe the shapes of the distributions of data collected from several counties on different aspects of life. Scholars make predictions on the difference in...
Activity
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Scientific Inquiry Using WildCam Gorongosa

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
How do scientists determine what questions to ask to meet their research goals? Help your class develop an inquiry mindset with a lesson based on studies in the Gorongosa National Park. Partners create their own research questions by...
Activity
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Eruptions: Old Faithful Geyser

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
How long do we have to wait? Given several days of times between eruptions of Old Faithful, learners create a graphical representation for two days. Groups combine their data to determine an appropriate wait time between eruptions.
Activity
Houston Area Calculus Teachers

Collecting Driving Data

For Students 11th - Higher Ed
Give AP Calculus classes the opportunity to check the accuracy of their calculations! A calculus activity involves the collection of data, the application of mathematics, and the analysis of the accuracy of results. Young mathematicians...
Activity
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Teach Engineering

Exploring Acceleration with an Android

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Small groups use rubber bands to accelerate an Android device along a track of books. They collect the acceleration data and analyze it in order to determine the device's velocity. 
Activity
NASA

The Types of Clouds and What They Mean

For Teachers K - 3rd
Learn to forecast the weather using cloud types. Budding meteorologists identify cloud types and learn to use a dichotomous key. As scholars develop observation and identification skills, they discover how different cloud types cause...
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Teach Engineering

Combustion and Air Quality: Emissions Monitoring

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Help your class determine the types of pollutants coming from vehicle exhaust. Groups use an air quality monitor to determine the emissions from different vehicles, to gain knowledge about combustion energy, and to predict how the...
Activity
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Teach Engineering

Building-Testing-Improving Paper Airplanes: Head's Up!

For Teachers 5th - 7th Standards
Take foldables to all new heights. Pupils build and fly different types of paper airplanes in the 14th portion of a 22-part unit on aviation. Groups collect data on distance and flight time for each plane and compare the data from the...
Activity
US Department of Commerce

How Does Our Class Compare?

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
Compare the class to the country. As a group, pupils collect data on the types of activities boys and girls do after school. Learners compare the number of girls to the number of boys for each activity. Using census data, individuals...
Activity
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Spreadsheet Tutorial 3: Column Graphs, Error Bars, and Standard Error of the Mean

For Students 9th - 12th
There's absolutely no error in using the tutorial! Learners use spreadsheets to create column or bar graphs with error bars. They also learn how to calculate the standard error of the mean in the tutorial. This is the third installment...
Lesson Plan
US Environmental Protection Agency

Weather and Climate: What's the Difference?

For Teachers 4th - 8th
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...
Activity
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Teach Engineering

Searching for Bigfoot and Others Like Him

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Individuals create a GIS data layer in Google Earth that displays information about where one might find seven different cryptids. The class members research to find data on cryptid sightings they can include in their data...
Activity
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Human Impacts on Biodiversity

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Have you always wanted to take your science class on an amazing field trip they will never forget? Now you can! Observe the wildlife in an African savanna through trail cameras with a five-part data analysis activity. Learners analyze...
Activity
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Teach Engineering

Backyard Weather Station

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Challenge young meteorologists to apply their knowledge of weather to build their own weather stations. The resource provides the directions to build a weather station that contains a wind vane, barometer, thermometer, and rain...