Chapters 28 – 31 of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird are the focus of a series of critical thinking questions. Responders are encouraged to refer directly to the novel to support their inferences and interpretations. 

Given a set of criteria, individuals determine how to arrange males and females in a dormitory. They must meet the requirements and communicate their plan clearly.

Fifty eye-catching pages contain six lessons about Roald Dahl's novel, Matilda. Each lesson has a theme and covers a different subject—literacy, social-emotional learning, science, and geography. Scholars analyze characters, examine...

Scholars must determine the maximum area for a rectangular plot of land enclosed with 100 meters of rope. As the work they discover patterns and numerical approaches to solve the problem.

Use mathematics to help plan a field trip. Scholars use the results of a survey to determine where a class should go on a field trip. They use provided data about entrance fees and mileage to calculate the cost per person of such a...

Don't be a square! Help your budding mathematicians discover patterns within squares. Scholars create squares on geoboards and identify patterns in the number of nails, both nails on the edge of the squares and nails within the squares....

Can a cat have 2,000 descendants in 18 months? To determine if this claim is realistic, individuals must take different pieces of information into account when justifying their responses.

"Statistics are no substitute for judgment" - Henry Clay. Young mathematicians use provided statistics from a soda taste test to explain why conclusions are faulty. They devise a new test that would be more appropriate than the one given.

"Statistics is the grammar of science" -Karl Pearson. In the assessment task, learners read a claim made by a newspaper and analyze its conclusions. They need to think about the sample and the wording of the given statistics.

Sprechen sie Deutsch? Future cryptographers must decide whether an unknown text is written in English or in German. They use provided pie charts about the frequency of words in the English and German languages to help make their decisions.

Scholars use formulas for the area of a circle and the area of a rectangle to determine the number of pies a baker can make from a particular area of dough. They must also take into account rolling the remaining dough into a new sheet.

What would be a fair fare for a taxi? to answer the questions requires young mathematicians to analyze data on fuel prices and taxi cab fares. They determine and justify a fair fare price.

Future mathematicians use a given graph to answer a question about age differences in relationships. Along the way, they must find the equation and inequality of given graphs.

Is it really that big of a deal if the global climate undergoes a little change? Young environmentalists consider this very question as they discuss in small groups the impact of different climate change scenarios on their lives,...

Cheaper cell phone bills? Learners compare two different cell phone plans for a specified number of minutes of phone usage each day. They also determine the conditions for which one plan is cheaper than the other.

Using clocks as dining tables? Scholars estimate the number of people that can sit around the face of the clock on the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool. They use estimation to justify their responses.

Students discuss creative writing—what makes something creative writing? Each learner starts writing a story and after 15 minutes, they pass their story to another who adds to it. After another 15 minutes of writing, the story is passed...

Learners discover the magic in mathematics as they solve numerical puzzles involving magic sums. They then make a conjecture as to why no additional examples are possible based on an analysis of the puzzles.

Groups explore illumination with NASA's Lighting Environment Test Facility (LETF) as a context. Using the TI-Nspire app, groups determine the lux equation that models their simulation. They then use the lux equation to...

Minimize the time it takes to create a fish dish. Scholars use their knowledge of time to devise an order that accounts for different constraints. Considering jobs that can be done in parallel is essential to solving the problem.

Santa sure is fast. In the assessment task, learners calculate the number of minutes Santa can spend at each house. This calculation requires the use of given population demographics data.