Discovery Education
By the Foot: The History of Measurement
When is a foot not a foot? When you use the length of your own foot to measure distances, of course. To underscore the importance of standardized units of measurement, middle schoolers engage in a series of activities that ask them to...
American Statistical Association
How Random Is the iPod’s Shuffle?
Shuffle the resource into your instructional activity repertoire. Scholars use randomly-generated iPod Shuffle playlists to develop ideas about randomness. They use a new set of playlists to confirm their ideas, and then decide whether...
American Statistical Association
How Fast Are You?
Quick! Snap up the instructional activity. Scholars first use an online app to collect data on reaction times by clicking a button when the color of a box changes. They then plot and analyze the data by considering measures of center,...
Mascil Project
Teaching Geometry Through Play
Puzzle your way through to a new understanding of area. Scholars learn about the area of polygons through equidecomposability, the idea that polygons that can be decomposed into the same set of pieces have the same area. By using...
Mascil Project
Building a Safe Staircase
Climb up the staircase of engineering knowledge. After watching a video of a carpenter measuring out steps for a set of stairs, pupils learn about the terminology and regulations involving stairs. They see how to use a rule of thumb when...
Mascil Project
Parachute Food Drop
Drop a perfect project into your lesson plans. Groups use different building materials to create models of parachutes for food drops. After testing out their prototypes, they make improvements to their designs.
Mascil Project
The Pipe Clamp
Clamp onto the resource and don't let go. Future mechanical engineers produce a pipe clamp from a sheet of metal. This idea is to use the pipe clamp to affix a pull-up bar in a doorway.
Mascil Project
Packaging
Wrap up an engineering instructional activity with a worthwhile project. An engineering design task challenges groups to develop a package for a pharmaceutical company given constraints on the volume. Learners then create a presentation...
Mascil Project
House Insulation
Make sure your house is warm in the winter. Pupils analyze graphs of heating costs for two similar houses and make hypotheses for why the costs differ. They then build models of houses with appropriate insulation to reduce heating costs.
Mascil Project
Design and Build Your Own Vacuum Cleaner, Hair Dryer or Toy Car
No vacuum cleaner? No problem, just build your own. Scholars apply knowledge of currents to build a model of either a vacuum clear, a hair dryer, or a toy car. While the class completes the activity, instructors consider gender...
Mascil Project
Epidemics: Modelling with Mathematics
The Black Death epidemic is responsible for more than one million deaths in the United Kingdom. An inquiry-based activity has young scholars explore the rate of disease spread. They then analyze graphs showing data from epidemics such as...
American Statistical Association
Scatter It! (Using Census Results to Help Predict Melissa’s Height)
Pupils use the provided census data to guess the future height of a child. They organize and plot the data, solve for the line of best fit, and determine the likely height and range for a specific age.
American Statistical Association
Step into Statastics
Class members study the size of classmates' feet and perform a statistical analysis of their data. They solve for central tendencies, quartiles, and spread for the entire group as well as subgroups. They then write a conclusion based on...
American Statistical Association
What is the Probability of “Pigging Out”
Learners apply their understanding of luck to a probability experiment. They play a game of Pass the Pigs to determine the probability of a specific outcome. Using analysis for their data, pupils declare the measures of center, dot...
American Statistical Association
Bear Hugs
Scholars research arm span to determine who gives the best bear hugs. They use data from a national study to find the standard statistics for arm span. It includes mean, median, quartiles, spread, standard deviation, and more.
American Statistical Association
Armspans
Young mathematicians collect data on the arm spans of classmates. Then they sort the data by measures of center, spread, and standard deviation. Finally, they compare groups, such as boys and girls, to interpret any differences.
American Statistical Association
What Fits?
The bounce of a golf ball changes the result in golf, mini golf—and a great math activity. Scholars graph the height of golf ball bounces before finding a line of best fit. They analyze their own data and the results of others to better...
American Statistical Association
Happy Birthday to . . . Two?
How many people do you need in a room before two likely share the same birthday? Scholars consider this puzzle by analyzing a set of data. They ponder how to divide the data and determine the proper size of a group for this event to...
American Statistical Association
Bubble Trouble!
Which fluids make the best bubbles? Pupils experiment with multiple fluids to determine which allows for the largest bubbles before popping. They gather data, analyze it in multiple ways, and answer analysis questions proving they...
Mascil Project
Design a Parking Garage
Parking structures don't build themselves. Investigate the process of designing and planning the construction of a parking garage. After considering the factors that must go into the design, scholars create their own models from a set of...
CCSS Math Activities
Gym
Math requires strength training, too. Scholars consider three different pricing systems for a gym. Given several scenarios, they determine which gym would be cheaper and find how many visits it takes for the costs to be equal.
CCSS Math Activities
Building Blocks
Math is a lot like building blocks—it requires a solid foundation. A short performance task has pupils consider the volume of a cubic block. It then asks mathematicians to find the surface area and volume of a prism made from stacking...
CCSS Math Activities
Baseball Players
Statistics is an important part of baseball. Given the mean weight of players on a baseball team, scholars determine the total weight of the players. They then find the median and range of weights for the opposing team. Lastly, they...
101 Questions
A Cyclist's Marriage Proposal
One cyclist goes to great lengths to make his proposal! Your classes must figure out just what length that is. Using a map with a bike route that spells out Marry Me, learners calculate the total distance of the ride. They base their...