Mrs. Moore's class is trying to earn money for a trip to the science museum, but how much more do they need? Solve this problem with your own class as they develop their ability to model real-life situations algebraically. As an added...

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...

Let's use math to solve an argument. Jon and Charlie are debating about who can run farther, but who is right? That's what your class will figure out as they apply their understanding of fractions to this real-life situation. A simple,...

Making banana pudding despite misplacing your one-cup measuring cup is easy as long as you can find your quarter-cup measuring cup! This real-life activity provides a good opportunity for learners to interpret division of a whole...

When painting a barn you have to calculate surface area, and that is exactly what this resource is about. Not only will your future home owners calculate the surface area, but also the cost. It is a real-life problem that every that...

What determines whether a function has an inverse? Learners investigate that criteria when they examine values in a partially completed input-output table for two different functions. The task is to complete the table so that one of the...

This model of the amount of anibiotics in a person's system is represented abstractly by a finite geometric series. Learners translate this real-life situation into algebraic form and then extend their knowlege by answering questions...

Gain a little interest in functions with a real-life task. Young scholars analyze home loan data with a geometric sequence and series. They use the models to make predictions about the total loan payments at certain intervals in a...

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...

Hooray for chocolate chip cookies! Ask your mathematicians to triple a chocolate chip cookie recipe and then reduce the recipe by one-fourth. Your class may need two days to complete, tripling the recipe the first day and reducing the...

Did she cheat on her husband? Did the hospital switch the babies? Should they have children? As much as this sounds like the plot for a soap opera, all of these questions fit into a single lesson on genetics. Scholars read about three...

Middle schoolers explore percentages in real world situations. In this percents lesson, students determine the final sales price after discounts. Middle schoolers interview community members and determine how percentages are used in the...

Individuals decide what they would do when faced with a difficult military decision that puts others' safety in jeopardy. The lesson also gives the real-life outcomes of the scenarios that occurred during World War II to give them a...

Students calculate simple area calculations in real-life situations. They determine simple wage computations. They use critical thinking skills. They demonstrate their ability to use writing in order to express mathematical thoughts and...

Young actors willingly suspend their disbelief as they improvise a scenario in which they are workers at a clothing factory and must decide their attitude toward the actions of co-worker Rosa Parks. 

Students work together in groups to research the Holocaust. Using a rubric, they gather information and develop visual aids. They apply principles of justice, equality and freedom to real-life situations. They present their information...

When school and community leaders are at odds, what's a young person to do? Grouped pupils examine the details of a difficult situation during the 10th in a series of 12 leadership activities. Presented with a decline in community...

Model real-life structures with mathematics. A project-based lesson presents a problem situation requiring classes to develop a function to model the St. Louis Arch and the Rainbow Bridge in Arizona. They create their models by...

Many organizations put on barbecues in order to make money. In a real-world math problem, the money allotted to purchase steak and chicken at this barbecue is only one hundred dollars. It is up to your potential chefs to figure out how...

Let's build a castle! Dennis and Cody have big plans, but do they have enough blocks between the two of them to accomplish their goal? A great context that requires students to add and compare mixed numbers. Encourage the use of pictures...

Use geometry to improve your pool game! Learners analyze the front half of a pool shot to determine its resulting path. By measuring the angle of incidence, they are able to predict the path of the ball. 

Help Christina figure out how many chocolate and lemon candies she has with a lesson on decomposing numbers. When presenting this context to the class, the teacher chooses the total number of candies and the number that are chocolate,...

Explain the timing of a lake cleanup to the EPA using calculus. A project-based learning opportunity has learners compare rate functions to compute a total change. Their solutions explain the time needed to rid a lake of pollutants.

You don't want to be short bananas when making bread. Scholars use their math skills to make sure there are enough bananas to go around. Using measurements given in a recipe, they must determine how many bananas they need to increase the...