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Mandala Art

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students investigate art elements such as color schemes and proportion by creating their own personal Mandala Circle on paper or canvas. This also allows students to investigate mathematical concepts such as tesselations or social...
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Hlf-Ball

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students investigate Newton's Laws of Motion and the Law of Conservation of Energy. They examine how a ball and half-ball behave and relate these laws to what happens to the ball. Students produce a graph of the data collected and...
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Creeping

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students observe, measure, and graph a model of slow down slope movement representing soil creep. This task assesses students' abilities to collect, record, and organize data, set up graph axes, plot data points, draw line graphs, apply...
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Finding The Area Of Shapes

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders investigate the concept of computing the area using different shapes. They use prior knowledge in order to devise a formula for a parallelogram. Scaffolding is provided by the teacher to find the formula of area for...
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Algebra II: Exponential Functions

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate, describe, and predict the effects of parameter changes on the graphs of exponential functions; describe limitations on the domains and ranges of these functions; and examine asymptotic behavior.
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Pizza Topping Combinations

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students brainstorm pizza toppings and determine the number of possible ways to order a pizza. In this algebra activity, students analyze and investigate geometric patterns as they relate to the concept of a variable. Students then...
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Modeling Drug Assimilation in the Human Body

For Teachers 8th - 11th
Learners investigate the accumulation of drugs in the body. In this algebra lesson, students collect data on drug retention and assimilation. They use their data to predict the behavior and effects of drugs.
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The Fault Line

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students use cardboard models of the North American and Pacific plates and sand to investigate what happens when there is an earthquake or movement along the boundaries of the plates.
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Populations Lab - Exponential Graphing

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders investigate the application of populations that exists in one's everyday environment, in order to develop an understanding of how mathematics is a key component in the understanding of population dynamics.
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Skeeter Populations and Exponential Growth

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students perform investigations on the growth of populations and use exponential functions to represent that growth. They watch a video clip of growth patterns. Students work in groups to determine the "population" of each color of...
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School-Wide Recycling

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Students investigate recycling. In this environmental lesson, students design a recycling program for their school. Students collect data about how much recyclable materials they use in one week. Students also survey classmates about how...
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Rectangular Gardens

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students create a rectangular garden using paper and tiles. In this geometry lesson, students investigate the largest possible rectangle that can be created given specific boundaries. They use grid paper to draw the rectangles creating a...
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Exploring Gender Bias in the Workplace

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate gender bias in the work place.  In this secondary mathematics lesson, students gather research on the current statistics about a profession which focuses on the female//male ratios and the pay scale of the...
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Why We Study Trigonometry

For Teachers 10th - 11th
Students investigate the different properties of trigonometry. In this precalculus activity, students find the six different identities of trigonometric ratios. They relate the ratios to that of a right triangle and apply it to real life...
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In Debt or Not In Debt

For Teachers 8th - 11th
Students investigate the use of credit cards. In this algebra lesson, students differentiate the interest rate of credit cards and how to stay debt free. They identify pros and cons of credit cards.
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Incorporate Black History into Math

For Teachers 4th - 8th
February is Black History Month. So why not highlight lessons that connect mathematics to Africans and African Americans?
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Peat Pots

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Learners place a peat pot in water to observe and calculate the rate of capillarity in a model of a soil. This task assesses students' abilities to make simple observations, collect, record, and represent data, use a data table to...
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Electric Circuits

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students determine the power dissipated in the combination of two resistors connected in series to a 6 volt battery. This task assesses students' abilities to develop procedures for an investigation, develop a plan for recording and...
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1st Grade Problem Solvers

For Teachers 1st
First graders investigate, represent and solve problems using number facts, operations, and their properties. They solve on-step addition and subtraction number sentences and word problems using concrete materials. Students construct...
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Please Turn Up the Lights!

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders discuss series and parallel circuits and design an investigation to test a hypothesis on total resistance of series and parallel circuits in combination. After discussion, groups design their experiments, run tests, and...
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Making Connections

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders investigate the input/output model for building function tables. From the data, 8th graders connect tables, graphs, function rules, and equations in one variable. They work backwards to determine function rules for given...
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Exploring the Witch of Agnesi

For Teachers 9th - 12th
students construct the graph of the Witch of Agnesi, and investigate both its asymptotes and inflection points. They construct the graph of the Witch of Agnesi and conjecture the asymptotes and inflection points of the function. ...
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Sampling Rocks

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students study rocks they find on the playground.  For this investigative lesson students collect and analyze rocks they find and answer questions about them. 
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Discovering Math: Concepts in Algebra

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students learn that speed is a function of time and distance, a quadratic equation can be used to figure out the path of fireworks, a photographer can use Algebra to figure out how many rolls he can afford if he needs twice as much of...