Illustrative Mathematics
Traffic Jam
How many cars would be involved in a traffic jam 12 miles long? A slightly ambiguous writing prompt gives learners the opportunity to practice making reasonable assumptions to tackle a real-life problem. Few details are given, so they...
Illustrative Mathematics
Lake Algae
Introduce learners to exponential growth with this real-world problem about algae that is rapidly spreading across a lake in a city park. The task presents the rate of growth and an end value and asks learners to determine what happened...
Illustrative Mathematics
Influenza epidemic
This activity presents a real-world problem about an epidemic of influenza spreading through a city. Learners refer to a graph that shows the number of individuals infected in relation to the number of weeks that have elapsed since the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Paying the Rent
Learning how a bank account works is a useful tool. The exercise in the resource is to deduct rent from a checking account and create an equation from a description. Participants then graph the balance of the bank account versus months...
Illustrative Mathematics
Chess Club
When the membership in a chess club changes, it is your mathematicians' job to find out how many boys and girls are attending and the percent change from last year. The activity provides a great compound problem finding the different...
Illustrative Mathematics
Distance across the channel
Here you will find a model of a linear relationship between two quantities, the water depth of a channel and the distance across the channel at water level. The cross section of the channel is the shape of an isosceles trapezoid. The...
Illustrative Mathematics
Egyptian Fractions II
The Egyptians used unit fractions to describe all other fractions. Your class will rewrite rational expressions in order to deduce information about rational numbers. The activity starts with specific fractions, guides you through a few...
Illustrative Mathematics
Video Streaming
Your movie fans will be interested in this resource. They will compare video streaming plans. One plan charges a set rate per month and a reduced viewing fee, and the other has a flat rate per each video viewed. Unfortunately, young...
Illustrative Mathematics
Pizza Place Promotion
The longer you wait to try the new pizza place, the more it's going to cost you! This real-world problem about how the cost of pizza varies with respect to time is a good example of how piecewise functions are used to describe...
Illustrative Mathematics
Which Function?
Learners are given a graph of a parabola on a coordinate system, but intercepts and vertex are not labeled. The task is to analyze eight given quadratic functions and determine which ones might possibly be represented by the graph. The...
Illustrative Mathematics
Springboard Dive
Dive into this problem that illustrates a real-world application of the quadratic formula. Learners are given an equation that represents the height of a diver above the water t seconds after leaving the springboard. The task is to...
Curated OER
Flower Vases
Which vase holds more water: a cylinder, sphere, or cone? Figure out which should be used for your sister's birthday bouquet with this practical word problem.
Curated OER
Percents: What's the Use?
Students explore percentages in real world situations. In this percents lesson plan, students determine the final sales price after discounts. Students interview community members and determine how percentages are used in the real world.
Education Development Center
Making Sense of Unusual Results
Collaboration is the key for this equation-solving lesson. Learners solve a multi-step linear equation that requires using the distributive property. Within collaborative groups, scholars discuss multiple methods and troubleshoot mistakes.
Curated OER
Art Class, Variation 2
Given a set of six paint mix ratios, artistic mathematicians produce an equation that relates the number of parts for blue paint to parts for yellow paint resulting new shades of green.
Illustrative Mathematics
Radius of a Cylinder
Here is a multiple choice question that would make a good assessment question. Algebra students are to look at the structure of the formula for a given radius of a cylinder and find the resulting radius when the height of the cylinder...
Illustrative Mathematics
Calculating and Rounding Numbers
Mathematicians need to know that not all numbers are rational. We approximate irrational number with rational numbers. That is why a calculator may be misleading. This task give learners an opportunity to see how rounding a number and...
Illustrative Mathematics
Proportional Relationships, Lines, and Linear Equations
The resource is a good introduction to what makes a proportional relationship between two lines. Discuss the similarities of both lines and the possibility of intersection. Use this opportunity to list other acceptable forms of each...
Illustrative Mathematics
How Many Buttons?
Bring the class into the probability by having everyone count buttons on their shirts. Organize the data into the chart provided and chose different possibilities such as "female with one button" or "all learners with more than four...
Mrs. Burgess
End of the Year Geometry Projects
Geometry students will be ecstatic about these engaging and enlightening end-of-the-year projects! Types of project ideas include interviewing a geometer, an ABCs of geometry poster, an engineering lab report, and origami work.
PBS
Adventures With The Fish Pond: Population Modeling
Build up from the previous activity where your learners charted the population growth and decay of a fish pond with M&Ms®. Have them look at the data from that activity and create a Now-Next, or recursive equations, to predict the...
Illustrative Mathematics
The Intersection of Two Lines
Here is an introduction to solving simultaneous linear equations. Start by drawing a line through two points. Create a second line which goes through the intersecting point. Background knowledge of how to find the equation of a line and...
Curated OER
Animal Brains
Do big bodies make big brains? Let your learners decide whether there is an association between body weight and brain weight by putting the data from different animals into a scatterplot. They can remove any outliers and then make a line...
Illustrative Mathematics
Calculating the square root of 2
Does a calculator give you the exact value of the square root of 2? Here, learners must decide if 1.414236 is equal to the square root of 2. They must also explain why the square root of 2 could never be equal to a terminating decimal....