For the Teachers
$1 Math
Captivate your class by having them find the value of their names, different zoo animals, musical instruments, etc.,with a mental math lesson. Using the coding formula listed, children learn to fluently estimate and calculate...
Math Stars
Math Stars: a Problem-Solving Newsletter Grade 7
Put on your thinking caps because middle school math has never been more interesting in this huge resource full of thought provoking questions. Written as a newsletter, the resource has 10 two-page newsletters with a variety of...
University of Missouri
Money Math
Young mathematicians put their skills to the test in the real world during this four-lesson consumer math unit. Whether they are learning how compound interest can make them millionaires, calculating the cost of remodeling...
Barnstable Public Schools
Math Relay Races
A plethora of activities make up a cross curricular choice page filled with math games—relay races, dice, and crossword puzzles—a survey challenge equipped with data organization, graphing, a quicksand recipe, Hula-Hoop activity to...
California Academy of Science
Building Better Buses: Transportation Design Challenges
Scholars learn about a series of three challenges when they design a bus system for a small town. They determine the bus routes and then figure out the best type of fuel to use before considering the cost of going electric. Learners...
eGFI
Marshmallow Design Challenge
How tall is your marshmallow structure? With limited supplies (including uncooked spaghetti noodles, masking tape, and one marshmallow), teams endeavor to support the marshmallow atop the tallest spaghetti structure they can build....
EngageNY
Recursive Challenge Problem—The Double and Add 5 Game
Math is all fun and games! Use a game strategy to introduce the concept of sequences and their recursive formulas. The activity emphasizes notation and vocabulary.
California Academy of Science
Fresh Solutions: Design Thinking Challenge
How do people transport fresh water long distances to ensure everyone has access to it? The final lesson in the 10-part Fresh Solutions unit encourages individuals to design their own solution, or solutions, to that very problem. Groups...
EngageNY
Modeling a Context from a Verbal Description (part 2)
I got a different answer, are they both correct? While working through modeling problems interpreting graphs, the question of precision is brought into the discussion. Problems are presented in which a precise answer is needed and...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Sugar Crystal Challenge
Blow your learners' minds with a sweet lesson on nanotechnology that uses sugar to demonstrate the difference nanoscale surface area makes in dissolving and crystal formation. Plenty of supportive background information is read to...
Teach Engineering
The Challenge Question
A research position becomes a modeling job. The introductory lesson in a series of nine presents the challenge of analyzing a set of bivariate data. The class brainstorms what the data may represent. Pupils must decide what is needed to...
Kenan Fellows
A Farmer’s Challenge to Breed to the Greatest of Grapes
What does your class know about GMOs? Are they savvy to selective breeding? Challenge young minds to engineer the greatest crop of all time using a hands-on genetics unit. Learners discover the good and bad details of selective breeding,...
Illustrative Mathematics
Counting Squares
Challenge young mathematicians' understanding of squares with this geometry puzzle. The task is simple, identify as many squares as possible in a 3x3 array. Allow learners to work independently or in pairs as they search for squares,...
Illustrative Mathematics
Overlapping Rectangle
Challenge young mathematicians' ability to compose and decompose shapes with this fun geometry puzzle. The goal is simple, locate all of the rectangles shown in a picture of three overlapping rectangles. Perform this activity as a whole...
Kenan Fellows
The Newton Challenge
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.
Radford University
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,...
Mrs. Burke's Math Page
The Amazing Pi Race
Add a sense of excitement to your math class with this race across the country. Using their knowledge of all things circular, young mathematicians work in pairs answering a series of pi-related word problems as they hop from one city to...
Illustrative Mathematics
Extensions, Bisections and Dissections in a Rectangle
Gaining practice in translating a verbal description into a diagram and then an equation is the real point of this similar triangles exercise. Once the diagram is drawn, multiple methods are provided to reach the conclusion. An effective...
Mascil Project
Closed Greenhouses
Controlling the efficiency of a greenhouse is a mathematical task. A collaborative project challenges learners to create an efficiency plan for a closed greenhouse. Using algebraic equations, they consider a set of constraints, design...
North Carolina State University
Exploring Genetics Across the Middle School Science and Math Curricula
Where is a geneticist's favorite place to swim? A gene pool. Young geneticists complete hands-on activities, experiments, and real-world problem solving throughout the unit. With extra focus on dominant and recessive genes, Punnett...
Curated OER
Identifying Linear Functions from Graphs
Keep your mathematicians engaged using this group linear functions activity. Each of ten groups receives two graphs with both an image and equation, as well as a "who has" phrase to call out the next graph. Scholars stay on their toes as...
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...
Curated OER
Measuring the Area of a Circle
When mathematical errors happen, part of the learning is to figure out how it affects the rest of your calculations. The activity has your mathematicians solving for the area of a circular pipe and taking into consideration any errors...
Illustrative Mathematics
How Many Leaves on a Tree?
This is great go-to activity for those spring or fall days when the weather beckons your geometry class outside. Learners start with a small tree, devising strategies to accurately estimate the leaf count. They must then tackle the...