In this engaging activity involving close analysis of abstract expressionist art, your class members will not only discover more about artist Friz Scholder's Native American art, but they will also have the opportunity to consider...

Students practice scientific observation by writing abstracts.  In this science reporting lesson plan, students identify the 4 segments of a scientific abstract, what the problem is, how it was studied, what was found and the...

This collaborative activity investigates the meaning of a trapezoid and a parallelogram. It begins by presenting two different definitions of a trapezoid. Learners are to reason abstractly the difference between the two definitions and...

Get your learners to think outside the box. Young scholars require a good understanding of ratios and their relationship to fractions to complete the problem. The only quantities given in the problem are the ratio of the number of votes...

Don't go off on a tangent while writing equations of tangent lines! Scholars determine the equations for tangent lines to circles. They attempt both concrete and abstract examples, such as a tangent line to the unit circle through...

Students discover African musical rhythms by performing Ancestral Spirit Dances.  In this musical instructional activity, students research Willis "Bing" Davis and the abstract work he created.  Students listen to Yoruba drum...

Students investigate expressionist art by researching Wassily Kandinsky. In this abstract art lesson, students utilize the Internet to visit a web museum which showcases Kandinsky's compositions. Students analyze the artistic lines and...

Here's an algebra II activity that strives to make the concept of a radian less abstract and more conceptual. It takes a hands-on approach to exploring the idea of a radian and allows individuals to develop a definition of a...

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...

Your algebra learners explore the values of two types of functions in order to compare growth rates in this short cooperative task. Two types of solutions are given, using a table of values and an abstract argument.

Build on pupils' understanding of inverse functions by connecting logarithmic functions to exponential functions. This activity allows individuals to see graphically the inverse relationship between an exponential and logarithmic...

An inventive and interesting lesson plan on the water cycle (and other cycles associated with it), is here for you. After doing a well-designed hands-on inquiry in class, learners also identify organisms and processes that are involved...

Students investigate topology. In this Applied Science lesson students explore higher, more abstract mathematics using tangles. Students make topologically related shapes.

In order to solve for who raised the most money, learners will need to choose an appropriate math strategy or tool to help them. Two possible solutions, one involving pictures and one involving abstract thought, are presented in the...

This activity guides learners through an exploration of common transformations of the graph of a function. Given the graph of a function f(x), students generate the graphs of f(x + c), f(x) + c, and  cf(x) for...

What do you get when you cross a circle and a line? One, two, or maybe no solutions! Teach learners to find solutions of quadratic and linear systems. Connect the visual representation of the graph to the abstract algebraic methods. 

Need a less abstract approach to introducing extraneous solutions? This is it! Young mathematicians explore properties used to solve equations and determine which operations maintain the same solutions. They...

Your learners can approach this task algebraically, geometrically, or both. They analyze the building of a linear function given two points and expand the concrete approach to the abstract when they are asked to find the general form of...

Inquiry-based learning and investigations form the basis of a deep understanding of quadratic functions in a very thorough unit plan.  Learners develop recursive and closed methods for representing real-life situations,...

Demonstrate the abstract process of solving equations by using algebra tiles as a concrete representation. Scholars begin by solving equations through the use of manipulatives. As they gain more confidence, they progress to...

Examine the relationship between the input and output variables in a table of values. As learners build an input-output table using online manipulatives, they begin to identify patterns. They answer questions about these patterns...

Make the abstract a bit more concrete with an interactive that asks learners to slide an input value through a function to determine the output. Changing the slope and y-intercept allows them to see the how the output values change.

The proof is in the marshmallows. Believing that electric energy can transform into heat energy can be abstract, but a hands-on lesson gives pupils a concrete example. Young scientists cut marshmallows with copper wires before and...

The object is to model fraction division by asking “How many are in one group?” It is a difficult concept to understand, but developing the model that shows one cup to a certain amount of container or one container to a certain amount of...