Radford University
Fun with Solids
Geometry is all around us—if we're only willing to look. The final three activities of the Fun with Solids unit continue work on surface area and volume. For lesson three, scholars investigate the formulas for spheres and solve a problem...
WindWise Education
What Factors Influence Offshore Wind?
What is that out in the water on the horizon? Teams work together to study the coastline using maps to determine the best and worst locations to place an offshore wind farm. The teams then build a scale model wind farm to see what it...
Teach Engineering
Build the Biggest Box
Boxing takes on a whole new meaning! The second installment of the three-part series has groups create lidless boxes from construction paper that can hold the most rice. After testing out their constructions, they build a new box....
Curated OER
Scale Models to Planet Size
Students consider the comparative sizes of the planets in the solar system. In this scale lesson plan, students select balls of different sizes to represent the planets in the solar system.
Curated OER
"If you build it..."
Learners utilize prior knowledge to erect and assemble a building from a drawing using spaghetti noodles and marshmallows. In this building instructional activity, students visualize a three dimensional structure from looking at a...
Consortium for Ocean Leadership
Measure for Measure
How does your class measure up? Young scientists create a scale drawing of the JOIDES Resolution in a collaborative activity. The lesson incorporates mathematical principles with deep-sea exploration to focus on enhancing measurement...
Space Awareness
Meet Our Home: Earth
Earth is a complex structure. Learners explore their home, the earth, using a fun hands-on activity. They create tactile models of the earth using ordinary household materials that represent some common features: land, polar caps,...
Teach Engineering
Load It Up!
See how a marshmallow can hold up a bridge load. Teams take a closer look at the design of bridge piers. They determine the types of loads that might affect a bridge, and, using that information, they calculate the needed cross-sectional...
Curated OER
Lesson: New Museum Design Activity
After viewing images of vernacular and alternative architecture, budding designers collect materials to construct their own spacial design. They use gathered materials to construct a 3D model of the class space in a new way, yet...
Curated OER
Making Models To Understand Our Home
Learners investigate the concept of a model and how it is used to represent something that is real. They recognize how the model can be applied to other types of concepts like the solar system. Students create a scale drawing of a house...
Mascil Project
Design a Parking Garage
Parking structures don't build themselves. Investigate the process of designing and planning the construction of a parking garage. After considering the factors that must go into the design, scholars create their own models from a set of...
Texas Instruments
What's the Scale?
Pupils will analyze scales as related to models and real life in this geometry lesson plan. They work together to compare the dimensions on a model as compared to the real building.
Curated OER
Building a Model Courtroom
Students construct a model of the Supreme Court's courtroom. They design the courtroom in such a way so that the architecture and furnishings in the courtroom represent the neutrality and power of the court.
Curated OER
Scale factors: Ratios and Proportions
Students create building and models using scale factors. In this geometry lesson, students apply the properties of ratio and proportion to solve problems. They identify the means and extremes property of cross multiplication.
Discovery Education
Discovering Math: Exploring Geometry
Apply geometric properties and formulae for surface area and volume by constructing a three-dimensional model of a city. Learners use similar and congruent figures and transformations to create a city of at least 10 buildings. They trade...
Benjamin Banneker Association
Celebrate Benjamin Banneker
Inventor, astronomer, surveyor, mathematician, clock maker. Learners celebrate the life of Benjamin Banneker by building creative analog clocks, making scale models, and solving problems related to surveying. The activities model the...
Curated OER
Building My Dream House
Students create their dream house using a spreadsheet for measurements. In this measurements and drawings lesson, students apply concepts of units and conversions as they build and create different shapes. They use Google Sketch-up to...
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...
Curated OER
House Project
Make young mathematicians' dreams a reality with this fun drawing project. Given the task of designing their dream home, students create drawings and physical models that demonstrate their understanding of proportion and scale.
Teach Engineering
Cell Membrane Color Sheet and Build a Cell Membrane
A cell of another color is still a cell. Pupils color a cell to identify its structures in the fourth segment of a seven-segment series. Groups work together to build a three-dimensional cell membrane segment, which is combined with...
Star Date
Build Your Own Galaxy
Don't just look at pictures of the Milky Way galaxy, build it with this hands-on activity in which scientists recreate the galaxy we live in.
Discovery Education
Architects in Action
Hands-on and real-world applications are great ways to teach mathematical concepts. Creative thinkers examine how ratios are used to create scale models of buildings and structures. They practice working with ratios by looking at a map...
Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Toilet Paper Solar System
Can we model how large the solar system really is? Attempt an astronomical feat with a hands-on-activity that uses a roll of toilet paper. Young scientists measure the distances of the planets from the sun to create a scale model of the...
Curated OER
Fastest Way to a Full Belly
Students create a scale model of a cafeteria. In this scale lesson, groups improve their actual school cafeteria layout by taking measurements of the structure and redesigning furniture and food serving lines. They create a scale drawing...