Big Learning
The Antarctica Project: A Middle School Mathematics Unit
Antarctica is a big place, large enough to provide ample opportunities to learn about math. A two-week unit teaches middle school mathematics concepts using project-based learning. The resource covers functions, geometry (area,...
Curated OER
Scale factors: Ratios and Proportions
Students create building and models using scale factors. In this geometry lesson, students apply the properties of ratio and proportion to solve problems. They identify the means and extremes property of cross multiplication.
Curated OER
What's Shaking? Three-Lesson Unit
Your young architects use the Internet to research tall structures or sky scrapers to help in the design of their scale drawings. This is instructional activity one of three in which learners design, build, and test model skyscrapers for...
Curated OER
Volcano Contour Models Activity and Tracing the Highs and Lows in San Francisco
Students investigate how to draw topographic contours and read topographic maps.They examine the topography of San Francisco and contrast the elevation of different points within San Francisco.
Curated OER
Geometry: Parallel and Perpendicular Lines
This basic handout would be good for skills practice or a review of parallel and perpendicular lines. Review the definitions, then practice writing equations of lines that pass through a specific point and are either parallel or...
Curated OER
Math - Design a Ship
Learners design a ship. They calculate square footage and draw their ship to scale. They build models of their ships.
Curated OER
THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT SPACE
Ninth graders set up a scale model of the solar system using the same scale for distance and diameter. They calculate scale distances and sizes for modeling the solar system and relate actual distances to difficulties in discovering and...
Curated OER
The Luxor Hotel Contract
High schoolers determine the surface area of the Luxor Hotel, using the square feet of the base, volume, and the volume formula. They create a scale model of the triangular/pyramid shaped hotel.
Illustrative Mathematics
Seeing is Believing
How many visual models can be used to show multiplication? Three basic kinds of models can be used to represent and explain the equation 4 x (9 + 2). The commentary section provides description and graphics to explain the set...
Utah Education Network (UEN)
8th Grade Poetry: Narrative Poem
The first lesson of a five-lesson unit designed for eighth graders has class members reading and watching a video of Edgar Allen Poe's narrative poem, "The Raven." They then craft their narrative poem, illustrate it, and share their work...
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Step Inside the Brain
Before digital microscopes, scientists hired artists to draw the things visible in the microscope. Through training in neuroscience and art, Cajal revolutionized the way we view the beautiful brain. The third lesson in a series of four...
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network
Understanding Wave Motion - Slinky vs. Snaky: Which Spring is Dominant?
Ride the wave to an understanding of refraction! The first in a series of two inquiry-based lessons challenges learners to create transverse waves with two different types of springs. As their wave hits an object, they observe the change...
EngageNY
Searching a Region in the Plane
Programming a robot is a mathematical task! The activity asks learners to examine the process of programming a robot to vacuum a room. They use a coordinate plane to model the room, write equations to represent movement, determine the...
NOAA
To Explore Strange New Worlds
It's time to boldly go where your class has not gone before! The introductory instructional activity in a five-part series takes young oceanographers aboard the NOAA Ship Okeanos to begin a study of ocean exploration. The instructional...
EngageNY
Dilations as Transformations of the Plane
Compare and contrast the four types of transformations through constructions! Individuals are expected to construct the each of the different transformations. Although meant for a review, these examples are excellent for initial...
Curated OER
Lewis and Clark
Fourth graders research the Lewis and Clark expedition and the Corps of Discovery. They explore a variety of websites and complete a WebQuest, analyze maps, and answer comprehension questions. Students also write journal entries and...
Curated OER
Building My Dream House
Young scholars create their dream house using a spreadsheet for measurements. In this measurements and drawings lesson plan, students apply concepts of units and conversions as they build and create different shapes. They use Google...
Curated OER
Map Your House
Students are introduced to the concepts of maps as scale models of the whole. After a brief lecture on creating and using an accurate scale when drawing and reading a map. They create a scale drawing of the floorplan of their homes.
Curated OER
Gazebos and Other Worlds
Design a simple structure such as the gazebo. Work with your class to identify the six faces of a cube pattern and name other uses of patterns in industry. They draft, cut out, and assemble a cube pattern. They draw out and assemble two...
Curated OER
Digger and the Gang
Help online friends Digger and Sprat from the BBC series to solve math problems! In a series of activities, your class will use data sets to calculate measurements, averages, means, and probabilities. The class completes worksheets and...
Curated OER
The Ellipse
This is a practical sheet with the instructions to draw a set of ellipses. After following the diagrams, there are ten questions to complete, with calculations expected for alternate orbits and comparisons related to actual planets in...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Classroom Activities: EarthViewer
The spot you are standing in right now—how did it look 2,000 years ago, one million years ago, or even four billion years ago? Scholars use a model of Earth throughout history to learn about continental drift, climate change, changes in...
Curated OER
History and Culture of Turkey
An exploration of the history and culture of Turkey can provide students with a greater understanding and appreciation of this region.
Science 4 Inquiry
Edible Plate Tectonics
Many people think they can't observe plate tectonics, but thanks to GPS, we know that Australia moves at a rate of 2.7 inches per year, North America at 1 inches per year, and the Pacific plate at more than 3 inches per year! Scholars...