Illustrative Mathematics
Molly's Run
A simple lesson with a lot of support behind it. Your learners will find out how long it takes Molly to run a mile by choosing their solution method. The activity can be used as a lesson or as an independent assignment. Preface with...
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,...
Curated OER
Linear or Exponential?
Your learners analyze various real-life contexts to decide if each is a linear or exponential model. This could be used as an assessment of learners' skills of discerning between a linear and an exponential model.
Girl Scouts
Daisy Making Choices Leaf
Shed light on the concept of financial literacy with a series of four activities that examines needs vs. wants, gives scholars the opportunity to buy products using paper money, and set goals to save money.
Teach Engineering
Build the Biggest Box
Boxing takes on a whole new meaning! The second installment of the three-part series has groups create lidless boxes from construction paper that can hold the most rice. After testing out their constructions, they build a new box....
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network
Scale Models
With instructions to adapt the activities for any grade K-12, any teacher can incorporate the concept of scale into the classroom with a simple, yet effective lesson.
Big Kid Science
Measuring Shadows Using an Ancient Method
How did ancient peoples determine the height of really tall objects? Young scientists and mathematicians explore the concept of using shadows to measure height in a hands-on experiment. Paired pupils measure shadows, then calculate the...
Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching
Ten Data Analysis Activities
This thirteen page data analysis worksheet contains a number of interesting problems regarding statistics. The activities cover the concepts of average measurements, standard deviation, box and whisker plots, quartiles, frequency...
Illustrative Mathematics
Felicia's Drive
Learners consider several factors to determine if Felicia has enough gas to make it to her destination. They must explain the approximations Felicia might make while driving to determine if she needs to stop for gas. They are also asked...
Curated OER
Do These Add Up?
Common Core mathematical practices require that young mathematicians not only know how to add fractions with unlike denominators, but also to recognize when adding fractions are appropriate for the word problem. Fifth graders are given...
Illustrative Mathematics
Molly's Run, Assessment Variation
Part of as assessment series, the activity follows the lesson Molly's Run to practice ratios and dividing with fractions. Different solution options are given for your learners' preference. The commentary explains how the standards...
Illustrative Mathematics
Buttons: Statistical Questions
Here is a nice activity about recognizing the difference between a statistical question and answer and one that anticipates a fixed answer. From this, your future statisticians will develop an understanding of variability and be able to...
Curated OER
Model Air Plane Acrobatics
Your young airplane enthusiasts will enjoy this collaborative task of graphing an airplane's distance from the ground as it flies in a perfect circle. They will discover that they have graphed a sinusoidal function that comes from the...
Curated OER
A Saturating Exponential
Your learners analyze the familiar model of a cold beverage warming when it is taken out of the refrigerator. The general form of the equation and its graph are presented. Learners learn about the specific pieces of the function by...
Terry Kawas
Catch the Gingerbread Men Game
Catching men made of gingerbread motivates your young graphers to begin exploring the concept of finding a point in two-dimensional space. Learners practice locating each cookie by rolling two cubes (one with the letters a through f and...
Mrs. Burgess
End of the Year Geometry Projects
Geometry students will be ecstatic about these engaging and enlightening end-of-the-year projects! Types of project ideas include interviewing a geometer, an ABCs of geometry poster, an engineering lab report, and origami work.
Houston Area Calculus Teachers
Related Rates
Use a hands-on approach to exploring the concepts of related rates in your AP Calculus class. Individuals explore the effect of the rate of change on a variable related to a variable they control. After analyzing the data they collect,...
Curated OER
Water Down the Drain
Did you know that leaky faucets waste $10 million worth of water? Conservationists perform an experiment and draw best-fit lines to explore how the US Geological Society determined this value.
101 Questions
100-Hand Video Poker
You hit the jackpot with a fun lesson! Peak your pupils' interest with a lesson calculating the probability of poker hands. A video shows the different types of possible hands when given a specific hand and one card to draw.
101 Questions
Graduation
Graduation ceremonies are huge milestones, but sometimes waiting for a name to be called gets a bit boring. Scholars find the pace the announcer calls names to determine how long until a specific name is called. Calculations work in...
101 Questions
Basketball Shots
Shoot for greater understanding of systems. Pupils watch a short video of a man attempting basketball shots, both one-point free throws and two-point field goals. Given the total number of shots and total number of points made, viewers...
101 Questions
Sugar Packets
Depending on your eating habits, you just may not want to know the answer to the inquiry-based question! The task is to determine the number of sugar packets in one 20-ounce soda. Learners use nutritional information from the sugar and...
Exploratorium
Stride Ruler
Take it all in stride! Scholars learn to estimate distances using their strides as measurement. They take 10 steps next to a set of meter sticks and use the final distance to estimate the length of each step. Once they've found the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Bike Race
A graph not only tells us who won the bike race, but also what happened during the race. Use this resource to help learners understand graphs. The commentary suggests waiting until the end of the year to introduce this topic, but why...