Writing and sketching functions—what more could you want to do? Learners write and sketch functions that meet certain conditions as they complete a short task. They find a parabola that encompasses three quadrants of the coordinate plane...

Unlike mathematics, statistics comes with a context. The author reminds teachers that data analysis involves using the context to make sense of the numbers. The article stresses good communication skills by highlighting the scoring...

Write, edit, and then revise! The fourth lesson in a five-part series asks peers to provide feedback on research. Individuals then use the research to edit and revise conclusions and develop their presentations.

Find the function that fits. Scholars first identify the graph of a function that looks the same after a horizontal translation. They must then find the equation of a function whose graph lies only in two adjacent quadrants.

Explore the effect of outliers through an analysis of mean, median, and standard deviation. Your classes examine and compare these measures for two groups. They must make sense of a group that has a higher mean but lower median compared...

This is not your ordinary farm! Using a case study, small groups study two proposed locations for a wind farm. After researching all the information about the sites, the groups choose a site. Each team member writes up the proposal...

Quickly get to the decimal point. The last assessment in a nine-part series requires scholars to work with decimals. Pupils compare the race times of several athletes and calculate how much they have improved over time. During the second...

Sidewalk patterns ... it's definitely not foursquare! Learners investigate patterns in sidewalk blocks, write an expression to represent the pattern, and then solve problems using the expressions.

Put expressions, equations, and inequalities to work! Young scholars solve problems using various strategies. Meant as a snapshot of the Smarter Balanced Assessment, a set of seven questions includes topics from writing expressions to...

Help a company maximize their profits! A detailed project-based learning activity examines two production scenarios. Your young scholars write a linear demand function. They then apply the function to develop a revenue, cost, and profit...

Patch up any misconceptions about writing functions. Scholars undertake a performance task that has them first examine a pattern in patchwork cushions. They represent the patterns in triangular and rectangular blocks using a table and as...

It all adds up to one. Pupils solve several items that involve finding sums of fractions in relationship to a whole. The assessment task uses fractions with unlike denominators to determine the amount of a tank of gas and the amount of...

Determine the better deal. Pupils write the equation for the cost of printing tickets from different printers. They compare the costs graphically and algebraicaly to determine which printer has the best deal based upon the quantity of...

Strive for gold with an informative resource. A short task challenges learners to investigate the thickness of a box made from a given volume of gold. The box must have specific dimensions, so setting up and solving a literal equation is...

It is positive that how one performs on the first test relates to their performance on the second test. The three-question assessment has class members read and analyze a scatter plot of test scores. They must determine whether...

A function is like a machine that has an input and an output. Challenge scholars to look at the eight given points and determine the two functions that would fit four of the points each — one is linear and the other non-linear. The...

Middle schoolers identify an equation in one variable that models a restaurant order. They then solve the equation to determine the number of people who had each type of meal.

Which deal is best? Learners determine which of two companies has the best deal for a particular number of shirts. They begin by creating a table and equations containing each company's pricing structure....

How high will it fly? Pairs build straw rockets and launch them at different angles and determine the height and horizontal distance of the flight path. Teams make conjectures about how the angle affects the measured distances and use...

You aced the first test, so your score on the second one shouldn't matter, right? Young pupils first draw a best fit line on a provided scatter plot showing test scores for two different tests. They then evaluate five...

Who doesn't like building blocks? In the task, pupils use a given diagram of a tower to determine the number of needed blocks. Using this information, pupils then develop a function rule relating the height of the tower to the number of...

Lesson 16 in the series of 28 is a mid-module assessment. Learners simplify expressions, write and solve equations, and write and solve inequalities. Most questions begin as word problems adding a critical thinking component to the...

Math is all about finding patterns. In this ask, scholars first investigate a sequence formed by squaring the sum of the digits in the previous term. They go on to investigate a second sequence and write an algebraic expression for this...

Americans love burgers! Pupils determine whether a given claim about burgers is true by reasoning from the provided information. The task involves operations with scientific notation.