Learning Games Lab
The Magic of Reading Graphs
Making conclusions from graphs doesn't need to seem like magic. Learners explore an interactive lesson on reading graphs to strengthen their skills. The content discusses how to read the axes of a graph and draw conclusions based on the...
Learning Games Lab
Scientific Graph Reading
Interpreting graphs is an essential skill for young scientists. An interactive online lesson gives individuals an opportunity to review the components of a graph and learn to read and interpret the shape of a graph. The lesson includes...
Radford University
Buying A Car
What is my monthly payment? Scholars research to find the perfect car for them to buy. Using the cost of the car, they determine a down payment and the amount of monthly payments using a zero interest loan. Finally, they investigate what...
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Got Slope?
Go around and around with slope. The class investigates tornadoes by watching videos, building a homemade tornado, and performing research on the Storm Prediction Center website. Groups gather data and create scatter plots for twisters...
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Land Development
Groups work with polynomials to devise functions that will model a selling price for property. The teams determine variables to create expressions to represent the cost required to develop land into a housing addition. Classmates then...
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Earthquake Problem
Shake up things in the classroom. The unit uses earthquakes to bring a real-life connection to finding arc lengths, logarithms, and equations of circles. Small groups determine whether particular towns would have felt an earthquake after...
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Ramp It Up
Pupils gather measurements of real-world objects that have slopes. They then plot the measurements and find an equation of a line that fits the measurements. Finally, groups investigate the ADA and determine whether different ramps meet...
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Quadrilaterals
Connect the quadrilaterals. Working in teams, pupils use a variety of tasks to make connections between special quadrilaterals. With the properties well defined, the groups construct quadrilaterals based on those properties. Learners...
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Right Triangle Applications: Lesson 3
Find the connection between trigonometry and tornadoes. Pairs investigate a tornado in Joplin, Mo., and use trigonometry to find its size. The pupils determine the path of the tornado and find the distance needed to travel to help...
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Right Triangle Applications: Lessons 1 and 2
Use right triangles for more than just mathematical problems. The first two lessons of a unit ask pupils determine distances between cities by using the Pythagorean Theorem and a map. To cement understanding, learners use trigonometric...
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Down on Sue's Farm
When would a farmer use math? Class members work through five tasks on a farm that require knowledge of surface area, volume, and determining regression equations. The challenges range from figuring out the amount of paint to buy,...
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Environmental Issues
Pupils investigate the air pollution situation in China by fitting a curve to historical data. They dig deeper into environmental issues that are of interest and provide a mathematical analysis of the issue. Class members develop a route...
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Money and Finance
Make the connection between money and exponential equations. Pupils continue financial lessons as they learn about compound interest in savings accounts. They extend the investigation of savings by looking at annuities, and then...
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Feeding the World
Using technology, pupils find an exponential function to model the population growth of the US. With more information, learners derive the population growth formula for the world. Ultimately, they determine the amount of protein needed...
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Surviving the Month
Pupils create budgets based upon family expenditures. They determine what the monthly payments will be for buying a car and a house based on compound interest for the total amount.
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Percentages: Lessons 2 and 3
What does salary have to do with it? Working in small groups, scholars use percentages to find simple interest and the value of a car they can afford on a given salary. Learners continue on to work with salaries and calculate amounts...
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Percentages: Lesson 1
Math can be taxing at times. With a short lesson plan, pupils determine how income tax affects take-home pay. Learners determine their net pay based on tax tables and how adjustments in their gross pay changes the paycheck.
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Subdivision Design and Quadrilaterals
They say real estate is location, it might be more about area. Learners work individually and in groups to design subdivisions by dividing the land up into lots. Scholars design floor plans to fit on the lots along with including a park....
Radford University
How to Build a Happy Home
Build a complete house in just a few days. Learners create floor, roof, deck, and landscape plans for a two-story house. Scholars then use their knowledge of area formulas, trigonometric ratios, and the Pythagorean Theorem to determine...
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The Wheels on the Bus
Find a cheaper way to keep buses going round and round. Small groups use their knowledge of ratios and proportions to find ways to save money on school transportation. The teams determine the number of miles buses currently travel by...
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Natural Disaster Recovery and Quadrilaterals: Trapezoids and Land Assessments
After a tornado, an insurance company is in need of finding the area of a plot of land. Pupils use their knowledge of trapezoids and area formulas to calculate the area of the plot of land. The scholars work in groups to justify the...
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Ping Pong Packing
Bounce off some ideas to reduce the amount of wasted space. Teams work together to determine the best size and shape of container to package a large order of ping pong balls. Groups are to design the container to reduce the amount of...
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2 and 3 Dimensional Shapes
Take a similar approach to three dimensions. Pupils develop the relationship between areas of similar objects and see how they relate to the ratio of the sides. Building upon area formulas, small groups put together volume formulas for...
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Natural Disaster Recovery and Quadrilaterals: Fencing and Roofing Materials
Storm into a better understanding of geometry. Using a tornado as a backdrop, scholars practice their skills finding perimeters and areas of rectangles. Learners apply their knowledge of the Pythagorean Theorem to find missing sides of...