Curated OER
Measures of Circular Motion
Physicists become Olympians in a competition using centripetal force. They ride a bicycle to comprehend relationships between linear and rotational motion. If you have an old-fashioned record player, it can be used to help pupils...
Math Learning Center
Grade 2 Supplement Set D5 – Measurement: Telling Time
Have your class play concentration memory games using analog and digital clocks. Second graders become little experts with time telling to the minute, quarter, half, and hour. Use as a fun Friday treat as well as other...
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...
Virginia Department of Education
Angles, Arcs, and Segments in Circles
Investigate relationships between angles, arcs, and segments in circles. Pupils use geometry software to discover the relationships between angles, arcs, and segments associated with circles. Class members use similar triangles to...
Illustrative Mathematics
Seven Circles III
A basic set-up leads to a surprisingly complex analysis in this variation on the question of surrounding a central circle with a ring of touching circles. Useful for putting trigonometric functions in a physical context, as well as...
Curated OER
Tree Measurement
Measure a tree? Yes, measure a tree! Students get outside and measure a tree's trunk, crown, and height. Each group compares their answers to determine if any re-measuring is necessary. Once back in the classroom, students make bar...
Mathematics Vision Project
Module 5: Circles A Geometric Perspective
Circles, circles, everywhere! Pupils learn all about circles, central angles, inscribed angles, circle theorems, arc length, area of sectors, and radian measure using a set of 12 lessons. They then discover volume formulas through...
Illustrative Mathematics
Coins in a Circular Pattern
What starts as a basic question of division and remainders quickly turns abstract in this question of related ratios and radii. The class works to surround a central coin with coins of the same and different values, then develops a...
Mascil Project
Circular Pave-Stones Backyard
Pack the lesson into your plans. Young mathematicians learn about packing and optimization with the context of circular paving stones. They use coins to model the paving stones, and then apply knowledge of circles and polygons to...
Exploratorium
Measuring and Mapping the Playground
The school playground is a great place to learn about math. Pupils measure the dimensions of a playground using baby steps and individual strides. They use their measurements to create a scale drawing of the playground by applying an...
Space Awareness
Making A Sundial
Can people really measure time just by using the sun? Scholars venture outside on a nice, sunny day to build sundials and learn how people measured time 600 years ago. The class builds two different sundials while gaining practice with...
Illustrative Mathematics
Running Around a Track I
The accuracy required by the design and measurement of an Olympic running track will surprise track stars and couch potatoes alike. Given a short introduction, the class then scaffolds into a detailed analysis of the exact nature of the...
Radford University
Discover Radians!
No need for radians to be mysterious. Scholars use a cardboard cut-out of a unit circle and measure the radius and circumference using a piece of string. They consider the number of radii needed to cover the entire circumference and use...
Marilyn Burns Education Associates
Eighteen Flavors
Your learners will be tantalized by this inquiry-based, collaborative activity as they discover how to write an equation that represents the height of an ice cream cone. Given the scenario based on the poem, "Eighteen Flavors," and...
Illustrative Mathematics
Two Wheels and a Belt
Geometry gets an engineering treatment in an exercise involving a belt wrapped around two wheels of different dimensions. Along with the wheels, this belt problem connects concepts of right triangles, tangent lines, arc length, and...
National Wildlife Federation
What is DBH?
When measuring the circumference of a tree, does it matter how high you place the measuring tape? Most scholars have never considered this question, but scientists know that measurement techniques must be standardized. The 13th lesson in...
Illustrative Mathematics
Placing a Fire Hydrant
Triangle centers and the segments that create them easily become an exercise in memorization, without the help of engaging applications like this lesson. Here the class investigates the measure of center that is equidistant to the three...
Mathematics Assessment Project
Modeling Motion: Rolling Cups
Connect the size of a rolling cup to the size of circle it makes. Pupils view videos of cups of different sizes rolling in a circle. Using the videos and additional data, they attempt to determine a relationship between cup measurements...
Illustrative Mathematics
Size Shuffle
In the eyes of children the world is a simple place, objects are either big or small. This simple activity aims to expand the comparison language of young mathematicians as they use the words taller and shorter to compare their height...
Gatton Park
Magical Maths
A variety of activities take scholars outside the classroom to explore shapes, symmetry, measurement, patterns, sorting, and time in nature. Learners participate individually, and in teams, to measure found objects, go on a scavenger...
EngageNY
Addition and Subtraction Formulas 1
Show budding mathematicans how to find the sine of pi over 12. The third lesson in a series of 16 introduces the addition and subtraction formulas for trigonometric functions. Class members derive the formulas using the distance formula...
Radford University
Marking Starting Locations for the 400-Meter Dash Track and Field Event
No fair! I had to run more than they did! Young mathematicians first measure various lengths on a school track. They develop strategies and show calculations to prove that all participants will run the same length using a staggered...
101 Questions
Car Caravan
Keep playing with those old toy cars! Pupils estimate the number of toy cars in an art installation. The only information they receive is a picture showing the toy cars arranged in concentric rings and the diameter of the overall...
Education Outside
Divine Dumplings
In a lesson that combines cooking, language arts, and social studies, learners create a delicious plate of dumplings for everyone to enjoy. After an initial discussion in the opening circle, pupils go to the cooking station and work...