Overcoming Obstacles
Speaking
Words! Words have meaning and power, and using them leads to consequences. The activities in this lesson are designed to remind participants to choose their words wisely when they speak.
Illustrative Mathematics
Extending the Definitions of Exponents, Variation 1
Scientist work with negative integer exponents all the time. Here, participants will learn how to relate negative exponents to time and to generate equivalent numerical expressions. Learners will apply the properties of integer exponents...
Curated OER
Number Patterns/ Odd and Even #2
What's odd? What's even? And what is the pattern? Learners explore addition problems to answer this question, deciding if the answer to each equation is odd or even. They then draw a two-column table to illustrate the outcomes of the...
Illustrative Mathematics
High School Graduation
An exercise in finding the approximate time that a name would be called at a graduation. Estimating time may be difficult for some of the class, so this resource would not be a good choice for learning this standard. It does end with a...
Discovery Education
Sonar & Echolocation
A well-designed, comprehensive, and attractive slide show supports direct instruction on how sonar and echolocation work. Contained within the slides are links to interactive websites and instructions for using apps on a mobile device to...
Curated OER
7.RP Music Companies, Variation 2
Real-world multiple-step proportion problems are sometimes hard to find for your math class. Here is one designed specifically to meet that need. Learners use proportional relationships to determine price per share in the acquisition of...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Get Connected with Ohm's Law
Ideal for your electricity unit, especially with middle schoolers, this lesson plan gets engineers using multimeters in electrical circuits to explore the relationships among voltage, current, and resistance. Older learners may even plot...
Curated OER
Throwing a Ball
Learners translate numbers, from real life scenarios of throwing a ball vertically upward, into a given formula so the remaining variable is the solution.
Curated OER
Global Positioning System I
Geometry learners touch the surface of how a global positioning system works. The end goal is to find the intersections of three different spheres geometrically and algebraically given their algebraic representations.
Curated OER
Find Parabolas through Two Points
Your learners will write quadratic functions whose graphs include specific points and explore how these graphs are related to each other.
Hotchalk
Triangle Sum Theorem
Your visual geometry learners will appreciate triangle drawings as they model the triangle sum theorem and algebraically solve to find the missing interior angle in a triangle. Practice problems increase in complexity and vary in their...
Illustrative Mathematics
Overlapping Squares
The objective of this activity is to find the percent of the area of a two squares overlapping. Mathematicians find the ratio of area for the part that overlaps to the rectangle formed. The final answer is a percent as a rate per 100....
Curated OER
Stock Swaps, Variation 2
If Microsoft wanted to take over Apple, how many shares would they need to break even? This is an ideal task for seventh graders who are studying proportional relationships and applying them to real-world scenarios. Use it as an...
Curated OER
Building a General Quadratic Function
Learners rewrite a general quadratic function by completing the square to see a new form of the function that more easily identifies the x-coordinate of the vertex and the two roots of the function.
Curated OER
Taxi!
Your young taxi drivers evaluate and articulate the reasoning behind statements in a conceptual task involving linear data. The given data table of distances traveled and the resulting fare in dollars is used by learners to explore...
Curated OER
Calculate the Slope of a Line Using Two Points
Find that slope! This video does an excellent job of demonstrating how to use the slope formula to find the slope of a line using two points. The instructor first reviews the definition of slope of a line, then works three problems using...
PBS
Add, Subtract and Multiply Fractions
Your future chefs will appreciate this comprehensive lesson where learners practice operations on fractions using pizza and soup analogies. Learners begin with a pizza analogy that requires the learners to multiply a whole...
Illustrative Mathematics
Battery Charging
Your class will be very interested in the results of this activity. How long does it take a MP3 and video game player to charge? Sam only has an hour and the MP3 player only has 40% of its battery life left. Plus, his video player...
Illustrative Mathematics
Modeling with a Linear Function
Here is a well-designed resource that provides five yes-or-no questions which model different situations with linear functions. It makes a good pre-test for the beginning of the unit. The purpose is to elicit common misconceptions of...
Illustrative Mathematics
Calculating and Rounding Numbers
Mathematicians need to know that not all numbers are rational. We approximate irrational number with rational numbers. That is why a calculator may be misleading. This task give learners an opportunity to see how rounding a number and...
Illustrative Mathematics
Miles to Kilometers
Can your mathematicians come up with an easy way to convert miles to kilometers? Start by asking learners to write an algebraic expression for each of the descriptions given. Once they determine that they are both the same, ask...
Illustrative Mathematics
Adding Multiples
Mathematicians practice communicating why the sum of two multiples of a number results in another multiple of that number. Encourage learners to construct a viable argument by applying the distributive property or by drawing a diagram....
Illustrative Mathematics
Currency Exchange
Take your class on a North American adventure with a currency conversion problem. Pupils are asked to change US dollars into Canadian dollars and then to Mexican pesos. The commentary includes two solutions, converting by unit rates and...
Curated OER
Stock Swaps, Variation 3
More on the fictitious takeover of the Apple Corporation by Microsoft. In this scenario, Microsoft has $28.00 per share to spare, so how many do they need to offer to make an even trade? This is an engaging problem to solve when...