PBL Pathways
Students and Teachers 2
Examine trends in student-to-teacher ratios over time. Building from the first task in the two-part series, classes now explore the pattern of student-to-teacher ratios using a non-linear function. After trying to connect the pattern to...
Virginia Department of Education
Square Patios
Build a patio from toothpicks and marshmallows to analyze functions! Learners look for patterns in the data as they create different size patios. As they discover patterns, they make connections between the different representations of...
EngageNY
Newton’s Law of Cooling, Revisited
Does Newton's Law of Cooling have anything to do with apples? Scholars apply Newton's Law of Cooling to solve problems in the 29th installment of a 35-part module. Now that they have knowledge of logarithms, they can determine the decay...
Howard County Schools
Discounting Tickets
A boss who can't do math? Oh, no! Young entrepreneurs use linear and exponential models to determine which discount will yield the most profit on ticket sales.
Rice University
Intermediate Algebra
Algebra concepts are all wrapped up in one nice bow. The resource combines all the concepts typically found in Algebra I and Algebra II courses in one eBook. The topics covered begin with solving linear equations and move to linear...
Howard County Schools
Maria’s Quinceañera
How long will it take to save up for a car? Classmates use linear and exponential models to see how money received during a Quinceanera will grow over time.
Curated OER
Unstable Table
Bothered by a wobbly table? Learn how to fix this problem using concepts of slope and continuity. Pupils first consider the problem in two dimensions and then progress to three dimensions. The solution is really quite simple.
Teach Engineering
Edible Rovers (High School)
Design and build a rover ... then eat it? This activity has groups of two design and build Mars rovers. The teams determine what instruments they want to include with their rover and plan a budget. They calculate the cost of the body of...
Achieve
Stairway
It's the stairway to learning! Scholars research all aspects of building a staircase. Using information from building codes, they write and graph a system of inequalities to analyze the constraints. The completed project is a scale model...
CCSS Math Activities
Smarter Balanced Sample Items: High School Math – Target N
Let the resource be part of your lesson sequence. Learners work through eight questions given as part of a PowerPoint presentation in the Claim 1 Item Slide Show series. They must come up with functions for contextual situations and...
Big Learning
The Antarctica Project: A Middle School Mathematics Unit
Antarctica is a big place, large enough to provide ample opportunities to learn about math. A two-week unit teaches middle school mathematics concepts using project-based learning. The resource covers functions, geometry (area,...
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network
Wet Etching in Nanofabrication
Chemistry and physics combine forces to benefit nanofabrications. Learners examine the process of wet etching in nanofabrication. Using corrosive substances such as lemon juice and Coca-Cola, they model the etching process. They then...
EngageNY
The Graph of the Equation y = f(x)
Math language? Set notation is used in mathematics to communicate a process and that the same process can be represented as computer code. The concept to the loop in computer code models the approach pupils take when creating a solution...
Mathematics Assessment Project
Arithmetic with Polynomials and Rational Expressions
It all starts with arithmetic. An educational resource provides four items to use in summative assessments. The items reflect the basic skill level required by the standards in the domain and are designed to have pupils reason abstractly...
101 Questions
Super Stairs
Keep your classes climbing in the right direction. Young mathematicians collect data from a video presentation. Using their data, they build an arithmetic sequence and use it to make predictions.
Curated OER
Strike a Pose: Modeling in the Real World (There's Nothing to It!)
Adjust this lesson to fit either beginning or more advanced learners. Build a scatter plot, determine appropriate model (linear, quadratic, exponential), and then extend to evaluate the model with residuals. This problem uses real-world...
Curated OER
Build a 3-d Plant Model
Third graders construct a three-dimensional model of a flowering plant. They examine the major plant parts and their basic functions. They demonstrate an understanding of the similarities and differences in the physical...
Curated OER
Machines: Designing Form and Function
Students design a boat model with simplified steam engine. In this ecology lesson, students compare renewable and nonrenewable energy sources. They determine the efficiency of their boat model.
Curated OER
Build a Hawaiian Bird
Fifth graders make a model of a bird. In this animal adaptations lesson plan, 5th graders examine how birds adapt to their environment, using Hawaiian birds as an example. Students create their own bird using adaptation paper cut outs...
Curated OER
Design a Reef!
Here is an ambitious, but highly valuable undertaking: set up a miniature coral reef in your classroom. Young marine scientists research coral reef ecosystems and ensure all vital factors are included in their functioning model. The...
Curated OER
Socratic Seminar Questions/Observation
Prepare participants for a Socratic seminar by asking them to not only design questions for the discussion, but to also observe an assigned partner during the seminar. A great way to encourage student-led discussions.
Curated OER
Reading Graphs
Working independently or in teams, your class practices connecting graphs, formulas and words. This lesson plan includes a guided discussion about distance vs. time graphs and looking at how velocity changes over time.
EngageNY
Relationships Between Two Numerical Variables
Working in small groups and in pairs, classmates build an understanding of what types of relationships can be used to model individual scatter plots. The nonlinear scatter plots in this lesson on relationships between two numerical...
EngageNY
Why Stay with Whole Numbers?
Domain can be a tricky topic, especially when you relate it to context, but here is a lesson that provides concrete examples of discrete situations and those that are continuous. It also addresses where the input values should begin and...