Teach Engineering
Trust in the Truss: Design a Wooden Bridge
Obviously, a sturdy bridge is the desired outcome. Pupils select from one of four different types of truss bridges, then construct a model of the bridge from craft sticks and glue, making sure that it satisfies certain constraints. They...
Houston Area Calculus Teachers
Related Rates
Use a hands-on approach to exploring the concepts of related rates in your AP Calculus class. Individuals explore the effect of the rate of change on a variable related to a variable they control. After analyzing the data they...
Mathematics Assessment Project
Discovering the Pythagorean Theorem
Young mathematicians join the ancient order of the Pythagoreans by completing an assessment task that asks them to find the area of tilted squares on dot paper. They then look at patterns in the squares to develop the...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Issues of Unauthorized Immigration
Unauthorized immigration is a complex and hotly debated topic. Class members read an article that examines the issues that motivate unauthorized immigration. Teams then assume the role of special interest groups and present their...
Chemistry Collective
Virtual Lab: Gravimetric Determination of Arsenic
Arsenic in drinking water is a common problem in third world countries. Young chemists create a procedure to calculate the mass percent of arsenic in the soil. The virtual lab allows individuals to experiment with different methods.
CCSS Math Activities
Smarter Balanced Sample Items: High School Math – Claim 2
Problem solve across the content standards. The presentation slides provide 19 sample items from the Smarter Balanced high school assessment. Items illustrate Claim 2, problem solving, of the test and are drawn from all the high school...
CCSS Math Activities
Smarter Balanced Sample Items: 8th Grade Math – Claim 4
A math model is a good model. A slide show presents 10 sample items on modeling and data analysis. Items from Smarter Balanced illustrate different ways that Claim 4 may be assessed on the 8th grade math assessment. The presentation is...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Weighing the Evidence for a Mass Extinction: Part 1 – In the Ocean
Extinction events have happen throughout geologic history, but only five mass extinctions occurred over the last 4.5 billion years. Scholars view fossils from a layer of sediment during an extinction event and observe patterns to draw...
Las Cumbres Observatory
How Big is the Solar System?
Find out if it's possible to travel to the edge of the solar system. Learners use a piece of string to model the distance between planets in the solar system. They then use the distances to calculate how long it would take to travel to...
Las Cumbres Observatory
Astronomical Seeing - How Good Are the Observing Conditions?
Why is star gazing easy on some nights and difficult on others? Pupils aim to quantify the answer in an enlightening astronomy lesson. After collecting images from an online robotic telescope, they measure the brightness of images using...
Curated OER
Bison Calculations
Young scholars discuss how animals are cared for when they are captured. Using calculations, they determine how much food and water it takes for one bison and compare their water intake to humans. They also compare their weight to that...
Curated OER
Exploring Linear Equations: Student Worksheet
An activity around linear equations, slope, and intercept is here for you. In it, young mathematicians engage in a whole-class activity while the teacher uses the overhead projector graphing calculator. This activity also focuses on...
Curated OER
Exploring Transformations with Matrices
A page right out of the Holt Geometry book. Use a graphing calculator and graph paper to explore transformations with matrices.
Curated OER
The King's Chessboard
Middle schoolers speculate on the better rate of pay: a dollar a day for 10 days, or a penny the first day, two pennies the second, doubling each day for 10 days. Start by listening to the story The King's Chessboard, by David Birch....
Curated OER
Exploring Circles
Students explore circles using a graphing calculator. For this circles lesson, students write the equation of a circle with a given center and radius length. Students find the most appropriate model for each combination of data they...
Curated OER
Coming to Know F and C
Students collect temperatures using a probe and examine data. In this temperature lesson students complete an activity using a graphing calculator.
Curated OER
Area Under A Curve
Calculus students use the derivative and integral to solve problems involving areas. They calculate the area under a curve as they follow a robot off road making different curves along the drive, using Riemann Sums and...
Michigan Sea Grant
Water Quantity
It may be tricky for a young mind to conceptualize that less than 1% of all water on earth is useable for humans to drink. Simulating the amount of fresh water available on earth by removing measured amounts of water from a five-gallon...
Curated OER
Blazing the Trail
Learning about proportions through measuring and mapping distances is the focus of this real-world math instructional activity that doubles as an activity. Mathematicians complete a course designed to measure and map locations in order...
Texas Instruments
Classifying Functions
Learners explore linear, quadratic, and exponential functions in this activity that makes use of TI Navigator and TI Plus calculators. Using the technology, learners compare and contrast the three types of functions given in...
Curated OER
Through India and Back
Students play a game based on "The Amazing Race" to practice using rates and fractions. In this fractions and rates lesson, students work in small groups competing to complete the tasks in the quickest time. At each stage of the journey,...
Curated OER
Countdown
How many days until summer? Find a special day, and use this activity to determine how many days, weeks, hours, even seconds until it arrives! There are three levels of difficulty, which can provide differentiated instruction with...
Curated OER
Investigating an Enzyme-controlled Reaction: Catalase and Hydrogen Peroxide Concentration
Are you looking for a way to measure cellular respiration? Try it with pureed potatoes. With some standard high school science equipment, biologists can perform an investigation and collect data surrounding byproducts of respiration. You...
Curated OER
Conic Sections
Students, while using a graphing calculator, graph systems of conic sections as well as identify their solutions. They complete various word problems dealing with conic sections with their calculators. In addition, students sketch graphs...