Investigate the process of factoring polynomials by grouping. A detailed lesson initially has learners follow a set-by-step example. They then drag terms to complete the three steps of a new problem. 

Get things cooking with the first lesson in this series on the science of food. Working in small groups, young scientists make and record observations about different mystery foods. These descriptions are then shared with the class and...

Help learners practice their math skills by utilizing the Internet to research a mathematical topic. Your math sleuths will investigate a science or social studies topic from their curriculum and construct a Math Hunt Grid. They create a...

Go on a scavenger hunt around your school to find evidence of math. Investigate different areas of your school for patterns, fractions, and different geometric shapes. Finally, create a spreadsheet and plot the data you've collected.

Making groups of groups can help to organize data. Classes use statistics to group themselves using descriptive adjectives. The objective is for learners to understand that grouping qualitative data is useful when the original groups are...

Students consider the future of endangered species. In this conservation lesson, students view a slide show and use mathematical data to construct a prediction for the survival of an endangered species. This lesson includes, personal...

Maximizing resources is essential to productivity. Class members complete an activity to show how math can help in the process. Using a piece of construction paper, learners construct a box with the maximum volume. Ultimately, they...

What are the chances? Teach your classes to answer this question using mathematics. The first part of a three-day lesson on determining significance differences in experimental data prompts learners to analyze the data by...

Here is an outstanding lesson on food groups, nutrition, and diet. In it, learners focus on hamburgers! They take a close look at the products that go into making a hamburger, conduct taste tests on samples, discuss the nutritional value...

Learners find out the meaning for prefixes used in math vocabulary. By dissecting words used in everyday math, they figure out what the prefix indicates and what the word means. A variety of well-organized worksheets and activities...

Explore the effect of outliers through an analysis of mean, median, and standard deviation. Your classes examine and compare these measures for two groups. They must make sense of a group that has a higher mean but lower median compared...

What makes a good sample? Your classes collaborate to answer this question through a task involving areas of rectangles. Given a set of 100 rectangles, they sample a set of five rectangles to estimate the average area of the figures. The...

Teach solving absolute value inequalities through inquiry. Groups use their knowledge of absolute value and solving inequalities to find a solution set to an absolute value inequality. Working collaboratively encourages discussion,...

Happy Pi Day! This collection of games, experiments, and activities leads participants through an exploration of the many aspects and attributes of that mysterious quantity, pi. Activities range from using statistical...

Although it was written to use in a science class, this measurement lesson is adaptable to Common Core standards in math for measurement and data. Youngsters are introduced to two types of measurement systems. They use both the...

Sixth graders explore and discuss the effectiveness of magnets in different situations. In this math instructional activity, 6th graders discuss rate and graphs after exploring with magnets using different restrictions on the magnets....

Upper graders measure the area and perimeter of several items. In this area and perimeter lesson, learners engage in measuring area and perimeter in several scenarios. Full-group instruction requires learners to listen to instruction and...

Take your class on a field trip to Fractalland where they'll learn all about number and shape patterns. Based on Disney's movie Alice in Wonderland, this resource takes young mathematicians on an adventure as they explore patterns in...

What do you do when factoring doesn't work? Learners complete the square when faced with quadratic expression that don't factor traditionally. They then use factoring by grouping to solve polynomial equations.

Looking for an application for step functions? This activity uses real data to examine piecewise step functions. Groups create a list of data from varying scenarios and create a model to use to make recommendations to increase...

What can math say about natural phenomena? The fifth STEM lesson in this project-based learning series asks collaborative groups to choose a phenomenon of interest and design an experiment to simulate the phenomenon. After collecting...

Who knew there were so many fun educational opportunities featuring pasta? Scholars read a brief informational text about the history of pasta (note that "macaroni" is spelled two different ways, so address this if kids are reading...

Math really is just one big puzzle waiting to be solved. Show learners that math can be intriguing and provide them with visually engaging problems and puzzles. The focus is on solving simple equations and looking at expressions. 

Problem solving is a skill of its own. Learners use a variety of problems to encourage mental math and logic to get the correct answer. Guiding questions are provided along the way to encourage the right way of thinking to help tackle...