PBS
What We Do Adds Up
With so many tons of trash going into landfills each year, your environmentalists can calculate how much the average person is tossing away. This activity has a series of questions not only requiring math, but a conscious thought of how...
Arizona Department of Education
Be Independent / Life Management Skills
Living independently is about more than managing money. Learn how to manage time, balance responsibilities, and calculate overtime and income with a set of activities about life management skills.
Radford University
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...
Radford University
Parallel Lines, Transversals, and Angles: What’s the Connection?
Streets, bridges, and intersections, oh my! Parallel lines and transversals are a present in the world around us. Learners begin by discovering the relationship of the angles formed by parallel lines and a transversal. They then apply...
EduGAINs
Making Savvy Consumer Choices
It's never too early to learn about grocery budgeting. Middle schoolers delve into the world of consumer math with a activity that focuses on both healthy choices and real-world math applications. Groups work together to form a grocery...
Purdue University
The Represented World: Recreational STEM
How are forces and motion important to a swing set? Scholars explore the concepts of force and motion using swing sets. In preparation for their own STEM design project, individuals take surveys and data from peers, complete labs on...
Center for Applied Linguistics
Practical Applications of Fractions, Percents, and Decimals
Young architects are prompted to design a playground in assigned groups. Using a 10 x 10 grid. Your fifth graders will apply their knowledge of fractions, percents, and decimals to the real-world task of designing a playground. Students...
Curated OER
Taxi!
Your young taxi drivers evaluate and articulate the reasoning behind statements in a conceptual task involving linear data. The given data table of distances traveled and the resulting fare in dollars is used by learners to explore...
EduGAINs
Data Management
Using a carousel activity, class members gain an understanding of the idea of inferences by using pictures then connecting them to mathematics. Groups discuss their individual problems prior to sharing them with the entire class. The...
Curated OER
Model Air Plane Acrobatics
Your young airplane enthusiasts will enjoy this collaborative task of graphing an airplane's distance from the ground as it flies in a perfect circle. They will discover that they have graphed a sinusoidal function that comes from the...
Curated OER
Interesting Interest Rates
Your young bankers compare earning interest accumulated yearly and monthly to decide which method most increases their balance. Using an exponential function to model the bank balance affords the learners more practice connecting these...
Radford University
Are You Faster than Bacteria?
Just how fast does bacteria grow? Over the course of three lessons, pupils investigate exponential growth with the use of bacteria growth. During the lesson, bacteria from a cell phone is grown to make a connection to real life. Using...
Federal Reserve Bank
Lesson 4: Back to School
Based on your current level of human capital, how long would it take you to earn $1,000,000? What about your potential human capital? Learners explore the importance of education and experience when entering the workforce, and compare...
Teach Engineering
Racing With the Sun - Creating a Solar Car
Here's an exciting and innovative lesson that's sure to get your charges fired up! In it, they use engineering design principles to construct and test a fully solar powered car. One caveat: the kits that each group needs to make their...
EngageNY
Modeling a Context from Data (part 1)
While creating models from data, pupils make decisions about precision. Exercises are provided that require linear, quadratic, or exponential models based upon the desired precision.
Mathematics Vision Project
Module 1: Getting Ready Module
This fabulous resource is a must-have for any algebra teacher's arsenal of lessons. Developing the idea of equations and use of variables from basic physical scenarios, learners gain valuable intuition in the structure and meaning of...
Statistics Education Web
Types of Average Sampling: "Household Words" to Dwell On
Show your classes how different means can represent the same data. Individuals collect household size data and calculate the mean. Pupils learn how handling of the data influences the value of the mean.
Teach Engineering
Water Power
Young hydrologists observe a waterwheel which helps them investigate the transformations of energy that occur when the blades of a hydro-turbine are turning. They work together in pairs and pretend to be engineers who are building a new...
Curated OER
Loan Amortization - Mortgage
Upper graders explore the connection between interest and principal. They use an amortization schedule to determine the amount of principal paid vs interest on a $100,000 home loan. Fourteen discussion questions and a research-based...
Teach Engineering
The Keepers of the Gate Challenge
Help your class make a connection between salt water and nanoscience. In the introductory lesson of a seven-part unit, the class explores why salt water helps a sore throat feel better. Pupils conduct preliminary research about the...
North Carolina State University
Construction
Engineering design projects serve as great opportunities for collaborative problem solving. In this case, students work in small groups designing, building, and eventually testing a structure that meets a teacher-specified objective. It...
Wells Fargo
Hands on Banking
Encourage middle schoolers to be proficient and knowledgeable in the economic world with a series of personal finance lessons. Focusing on banking, credit, budgets, and investing, the activities guide learners through financial literacy...
Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program
Mummies in the Morning Egyptian pyramids, hieroglyphics
Visit the Magic Treehouse and take your class on a trip through time with a reading of the children's book Mummies in the Morning. Using the story to spark an investigation into Egyptian culture, this literature unit engages...
NOAA
Sustaining Our Ocean Resources
Lead young scientists on an investigation of fishery practices with the final installment of this four-part unit. Using a PowerPoint presentation and hands-on simulation, this activity engages children in learning how fish populations...