Curated OER
Sun and Weather
How is the Earth's weather created? Middle schoolers will explain how the Sun's energy is transformed into different forms. They will perform mathematical calculations of volume, mass, and temperature. They they will explain the...
Teach Engineering
Above-Ground Storage Tank Design Project
The challenge: determine whether a tank will float. A design activity has groups work as engineering teams in order to determine the stability of given tanks and liquid contents. The teams need to determine the equations to...
Teach Engineering
Creepy Silly Putty
It might be silly to determine the creep rate of putty but groups will enjoy making different formulations of silly putty and playing with them to understand how the different mixtures behave. The second part of the activity has groups...
Teach Engineering
Microfluidic Devices and Flow Rate
When you have to flow, you have to flow. The lesson plan introduces class members to microfluidic devices and their uses in medicine. They watch a short video on how the diameter affects the rate of flow. The worksheet has individuals...
American Chemical Society
Exothermic, Endothermic, and Chemical Change
Scientists can't observe bonds breaking or forming, so how do they distinguish between exothermic and endothermic reactions? Young scholars complete two experiments to do just that. They monitor temperature change and calculate the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Harvesting the Fields
This problem involving rates may look simple at first, but it is actually quite challenging. Two different sized fields are harvested by a team of workers and learners must use different rates to calculate the number of workers on the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Ice Cream Van
In an open-ended problem, learners calculate costs involved in driving an ice cream van. Is it better to park in one place or drive through different neighborhoods? Learners look at these and other factors and must make reasonable...
Illustrative Mathematics
Christo’s Building
Hook your charges on how to solve a real-world art problem with mathematics by showing works of Christo. You can find eye-catching images on the Christo and Jeanne Claude webpage. Here, math learners help Jean Claude and Christo prepare...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Impacts of Climate on Forest Succession
Part two in a series of four explores the effects of climate on succession or the changing of plant species in a forest. Groups review how to identify trees and then spend a day in the field collecting extensive data on trees to...
Teach Engineering
Air Pressure
Investigate what is pushing on us. An intriguing lesson has pupils calculate the amount of force on various squares due to air pressure. Using the data, individuals create a graph in the third lesson of the Up, Up and Away unit...
Curated OER
Plate Tectonics Day 3 Sea Floor Spreading: Evidence for Continental Drift
Students are introduced to Sea Floor Spreading and how it provides evidence for Hess's and Deitz's theory of Continental Drift. They use paleomagnetic data to calculate the rate of Sea Floor Spreading.
Curated OER
Light and Elements
Here is a full-fledged investigation of light waves, the electromagnetic spectrum, and element spectra. Physicists research a scientist that contributed to our understanding of the behavior of light. They take notes on your lecture, and...
Curated OER
Energy Conservation
Students investigate energy conservation. In this energy conservation and analyzing data lesson, students identify and explain several energy sources and research renewable and nonrenewable energy sources. Students use statistics...
Curated OER
Hypothetical Heights
Students participate in an interdisciplinary activity to discuss improvements that would make them want to return to a previously poor neighborhood. In this civics activity, students work in a budget to make a plan to better...
PLS 3rd Learning
Monthly Budget & Operating Costs
What teenager wouldn't want a car? But before they make that big purchase, this exercise helps them to understand the costs involved. It includes a worksheet to calculate expenses like taxes and fees, maintenance, gas and insurance, as...
Curated OER
Slope, Vectors, and Wind Pressure
A hands-on lesson using the TI-CBR Motion Detector to provide information to graph and analyze. The class uses this information to calculate the slope of motion graphs and differentiate scalar and vector quantities. There is a real-world...
Curated OER
The Math in the Design and Building of Bridges
Research various types of bridge designs. Your class will be asked to consider what it would be like without bridges while learning about how they work. They will construct a model bridge based on given parameters. They then calculate...
Curated OER
Missing Macroinvertebrates - Stream Side Science
Field study groups collect samples of stream water and identify the macroinvertebrates found. Using their data, they calculate a water quality index to rate the health of the stream. They graph their data and discuss the value of a water...
Curated OER
The Trash We Pass
Where does our garbage go? What is the difference between a recyclable and non-recyclable item? Pose these important, but often overlooked, questions to your class and invite them to consider the lasting and damaging effects of the...
Sea World
Splash of Math
How can kids use math to learn about marine life? Combine math skills with science lessons in a resource featuring activities about life in the sea. Kids graph and calculate data, solve complex word problems, measure geometric shapes,...
Virginia Department of Education
Mathematics Vocabulary Cards - Grade 3
Need to go over some math concepts with your third graders? Use a series of math posters, featuring vocabulary words in geometry, measurement, fractions, probability, and many other areas of study. Each poster presents the term with an...
BW Walch
Solving Linear Inequalities in Two Variables
Although graphing a linear inequality on the plane is but a few steps added onto the graphing of a linear equation, for many learners the logical leap is quite intimidating. This approachable PowerPoint presentation breaks graphing...
EngageNY
Volumes of Familiar Solids – Cones and Cylinders
Investigate the volume of cones and cylinders. Scholars develop formulas for the volume of cones and cylinders in the 10th lesson of the module. They then use their formulas to calculate volume.
Teach Engineering
About Accuracy and Approximation
How accurate are robots? Groups draw lines by moving robots backwards and forwards by one rotation of the wheels. Using the appropriate formula, they determine the percent error in the length of the lines in relation to the calculated...