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Interactive
PBS

Real-World Ratio and Rate Reasoning: How to Power the Skate Park

For Students 5th - 6th Standards
Bring on the lights! Using an interactive, characters try to figure out how to light a skate park by examining area and ratios to determine the number of solar panels needed to power them. Pupils design a house with a roof to hold solar...
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Instructional Video3:44
PBS

Real-Life Math — Production Scheduler

For Students 6th Standards
Use unit rates to find the number of parts needed to produce a given number of units. A production scheduler shares the different ways schedulers use math to ensure the required amount of parts are available to manufacture air...
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Activity2:06
PBS

Human Tree: Ratios

For Students 6th - 7th Standards
Create a personal tree. By visiting an exhibit at the National Museum of Mathematics, the resource introduces the idea of fractals. The exhibit takes an image of the person and creates a tree by repeating scaled images on the shoulders...
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Activity3:39
PBS

Scale City — Proportional Relationships in the Real World

For Teachers 6th - 7th Standards
Strive to determine your stride. Scholars first view an informative video on the Kentucky Horse Park and the 28-feet stride of the Man o' War. They then work together in groups to find the length of their own strides by using the number...
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Activity4:07
PBS

Scale City — Inverse Proportions and Shadows in the Real World

For Teachers 6th - 7th Standards
Bring the resource out from the shadows. Viewers of a short video learn about drive-in theaters and how operators project images onto a large screen. They then perform an experiment to determine the relationship between the distance of...
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Handout
PBS

The Lowdown — Living Wages in CA: Ratio and Rate in the Real World

For Students 5th - 7th Standards
How much money is enough money? Future wage earners explore the minimum hourly wage and then use it to calculate monthly and yearly earnings. They use an interactive to consider living costs and determine whether earning a minimum wage...
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Activity
1
1
PBS

The Lowdown — Exploring Changing Obesity Rates through Ratios and Graphs

For Teachers 6th - 9th Standards
Math and medicine go hand-in-hand. After viewing several infographics on historical adult obesity rates, pupils consider how they have changed over time. They then use percentages to create a new graph and write a list of questions the...
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Activity
101 Questions

Shower v. Bath

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Which requires more water--a bath or a shower? Given some specific criteria, learners attempt to answer the question. A video shows how long it takes to fill a gallon container using a faucet and a shower head. Using that information and...
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Activity
101 Questions

Print Job

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
A watched printer never finishes—or does it? Engage your classes in a ratio and proportion task that asks them to predict how long it takes to print the numbers one through 88 on 88 sheets of paper. They use video to determine the rate...
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Activity
101 Questions

Sugar Packets

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
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...
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Activity
101 Questions

Leaky Faucet

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
A dripping faucet may be enough to drive you crazy, but it also teaches you a little about ratios. Presented with the volume of a sink and the rate the water is dripping, scholars must devise a plant to determine how long it will take...
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Activity
101 Questions

Lightning then Thunder

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Conquer your fear of thunder and proportions. After viewing a video of lightning and thunder, scholars consider how far away the storm is from the recorder. This obviously requires the use of proportions and rates.
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Activity
101 Questions

Mowing the Lawn

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
It'll take as long as it'll take. After watching a short video clip of someone moving a lawn as well as a running stopwatch, pupils estimate how long it would take to mow the entire lawn. Provided diagrams show the dimensions of the lawn...
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Lesson Plan
Kenan Fellows

The Newton Challenge

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Make Newton proud. Scholars apply their understanding of forces and energy to an engineering design challenge. They learn about simple machines, create a presentation on Newton's laws, and develop a balloon-powered car.
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Activity
101 Questions

Nana's Paint Mixup

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
You would probably do anything for your Nana, including fixing her mistakes! Nana provided the wrong ratio to mix red and white paint, and she didn't realize it until after she mixed the paint. Your class now needs to figure out how to...
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Activity
101 Questions

Neptune

For Teachers 6th - 10th Standards
Examine an innovative approach to a large-scale model. Pupils across the state of Maine teamed up to create a model of the solar system that spans 40 miles. Put thinking skills to work within your classes as they make the calculations to...
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Activity
101 Questions

Amazon Percent Discount

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Everyone loves a good sale! A straightforward lesson provides practice with calculating a percent off of a product. Using ads from Amazon, individuals calculate the percent off the ad does not show. Pupils see the answer after revealing...
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Activity
101 Questions

Binder Clips: Large, Medium, Small

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Ever wondered how many pieces of paper a binder clip can hold? Viewers of a short video are about to find out! Given measurement data for three different sized binder clips, learners must develop a method for figuring out how many pieces...
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Activity
101 Questions

Nana's Chocolate Milk

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Nobody wants to make Nana mad! Help Mr. Meyer fix the chocolate milk he prepared for his Nana using too many scoops of chocolate. Youngsters develop a problem-solving strategy that leads to the solution using ratios and proportions.
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Activity
101 Questions

Speed of Light

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
How quickly does light travel long distances? A short video simulates light going from the earth to the moon at two different paces. Scholars relate the distance to the rate to understand which simulation is correct.
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Activity
Teach Engineering

Sudsy Cells

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Let's hope that your soap is doing what it's supposed to! The second of six installments in the Cells unit has scholars perform an experiment cultivating bacteria in Petri dishes. They test soaps and detergents to see which is most...
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Activity
1
1
Teach Engineering

Let's Get it There Fast

For Teachers 5th - 7th Standards
Are planes the best shipping method? Using maps, pupils determine the fastest mode of transportation between two cities. Given a list of items to ship, groups decide the best shipping method to finish the 18th segment of a 22-part unit.
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Activity
1
1
Teach Engineering

Messin' with Mixtures

For Teachers 5th - 7th Standards
Do you separate your trail mix before eating it? Then you've been separating mixtures your whole life! Scholars model a contaminated soil sample using trail mix and estimate the percentage of each component. They consider how to clean up...
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Activity
1
1
Teach Engineering

Corn for Fuel?!

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Can corn power the world? Young scientists learn about how corn and other plants can provide renewable biofuels in the second of nine lessons. They set up an experiment to investigate how different variables affect plant growth. All of...