Curated OER
House and Holmes: A Guide to Deductive and Inductive Reasoning
Test your pupils' reasoning skills with several activities and a quick mystery to solve. Learners watch and analyze a few video clips that demonstrate reasoning in action, practice deduction with an interactive and collaborative...
Texas Education Agency (TEA)
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Arguments, i.e., Identify Fallacies (English III Reading)
A series of interactive exercises provide users with the ammunition they need to detect logical fallacies and defend themselves against persuasion. Learners read about 11 types of logical fallacies and identify the type used in sample...
Scouts
The Deadly Picnic: A Lab on Deductive Reasoning
Whodunnit? Find out who killed Mr. Brooks through a logical examination of evidence. Class members fill out a couple of data tables to help them pin down the suspect. After they've figured out just who the culprit is, pupils compose...
Beauty and Joy of Computing
Unsolvable and Undecidable Problems
Try as you might, some functions just cannot be computed. The lab introduces the class to the possibility of unsolvable problems. The fourth lesson in a series of seven begins with a logic problem, then progresses to looking at functions...
Florida Center for Instructional Technology
A Human Number Line: Teacher Notes
Twenty-one pieces of tagboard can lead your class to a greater understanding of integers when you use them to form a human number line. After creating this math tool, two strategies for adding and subtracting will have your...
Noyce Foundation
Circular Reasoning
Examine the origin and application of pi in five different levels. The five lessons in the resource begin with an analysis of the relationship between the radius and circumference of a circle. The following lessons lead learners through...
Odyssey of the Mind
Odyssey of the Mind Curriculum Activity: Made Up Math
Is there a way to connect creative thinking, logical reasoning, mathematical understanding, and humor? You bet there is! Kids begin by creating creative math quizzes, which require creative thinking to solve. For example, 1+1=24, one...
Illustrative Mathematics
Points equidistant from two points in the plane
Young geometers apply their deductive reasoning skills and knowledge of proving triangles congruent in a task that asks them to prove if a point lies on the perpendicular bisector of a segment, then it is equidistant from the endpoints...
Illustrative Mathematics
Seven to the What?!?
Sometimes what seems like the easiest problem is really the most difficult. Your class is first going to reach for their calculators, but will realize the number is too large to evaluate. Now what? This is where the fun and the logical...
Illustrative Mathematics
Similar Triangles
Proving triangles are similar is often an exercise in applying one of the many theorems young geometers memorize, like the AA similarity criteria. But proving that the criteria themselves are valid from basic principles is a great...
Noyce Foundation
The Wheel Shop
Teach solving for unknowns through a problem-solving approach. The grouping of five lessons progresses from finding an unknown through simple reasoning to solving simultaneous equations involving three and four variables. Each lesson...
Mr. Jones's Science Class
Periodic Table Project
Don't be fooled by the title; this is not really a lesson on elements. It is a project on classification, using the periodic table as an example. For that reason, it could be used in any branch of science. As an example, a group may...
Noyce Foundation
The Shape of Things
Investigate the attributes of polygons. A thorough set of lessons presents problem scenarios for elementary through high school classes. The first lessons focus on basic characteristics of polygons, including the line of symmetry. As the...
Curated OER
Math Games for Skills and Concepts
A 27-page packet full of math games and activities builds on algebra, measurement, geometry, fractional, and graphing skills. Young mathematicians participate in math games collaboratively, promoting teamwork and skills practice.
Noyce Foundation
First Rate
Explore distance and time factors to build an understanding of rates. A comprehensive set of problems target learners of all grade levels. The initial problem provides distance and time values and asks for the winner of a race. Another...
Noyce Foundation
Cubism
If cubism were a religion, would you follow it? Lower-level tasks focus primarily on counting the number cubes in a structure and relating the number to surface area. As learners progress to higher-level tasks, isometric drawings and...
Noyce Foundation
Lyle's Triangles
Try five problems on triangles. Levels A and B focus on shapes that can be created from right triangles. Level C touches upon the relationship between the area of a six-pointed star and the area of each triangle of which it is composed....
Noyce Foundation
Piece it Together
Score some problems all related to soccer balls. The first few problems focus on pattern blocks to see relationships between figures. More advanced problems focus on actual soccer balls, the patterns on the balls, and their volumes and...
Illustrative Mathematics
Shortest Line Segment from a Point P to a Line L
One of the hardest skills for many young geometers to grasp is to move beyond just declaring obvious things true, and really returning to fundamental principles for proof. This brief exercise stretches those proving muscles as the class...
Illustrative Mathematics
Use Cavalieri’s Principle to Compare Aquarium Volumes
Learners are designing a stunning new water feature for an aquarium, but they soon discover that more than just a pretty home for their fishy friends is required. From calculating the volume of a composite shape through the abstract...
Computer Science Unplugged
Treasure Hunt—Finite-State Automata
Introduce your class to the concept of finite-state automata with an activity that asks individuals to try to map their way to Treasure Island by taking different routes though an island chain. Each island has two ship sailing to...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.1
Focus on writing argument essays with your high schoolers. The lesson suggested here focuses on The Jungle, by Sinclair Lewis; however, the idea could be adapted for other texts. Check out the quick quiz provided at the end of the...
Computer Science Unplugged
The Orange Game–Routing and Deadlock in Networks
How is data able to move in a congested network? Groups simulate moving data around a congested network by passing fruit around a circle, following specific rules, until everyone ends up with their own fruit. Extension activities include...
Worksheet Web
Language – Debating
Having a debate doesn't mean you're fighting. Introduce middle schoolers to debate with a resource which distinguishes between an quarrel and a debate, describes the debate process and format, and presents some possible debate topics.