EngageNY
General Prisms and Cylinders and Their Cross-Sections
So a cylinder does not have to look like a can? By expanding upon the precise definition of a rectangular prism, the lesson develops the definition of a general cylinder. Scholars continue on to develop a graphical organizer for the...
EngageNY
Circles, Chords, Diameters, and Their Relationships
A diameter is the longest chord possible, but that's not the only relationship between chords and diameters! Young geometry pupils construct perpendicular bisectors of chords to develop a conjecture about the relationships between chords...
EngageNY
Experiments with Inscribed Angles
Right angles, acute angles, obtuse angles, central angles, inscribed angles: how many types of angles are there? Learners first investigate definitions of inscribed angles, central angles, and intercepted arcs. The majority of the lesson...
Brown University
Considering the Role of Values in Public Policy
Strong opinions come from deeply held values. Young citizens explore the values that are most important to them in a class discussion and activity. As they prioritize a list of values cards that include freedom, justice, and democracy,...
It's About Time
Electricity and Your Community
Young scientists read and interpret a data table about energy generation around the world. Next, they use the Internet to investigate energy generation in their own state, and, finally, pupils read a passage and answer questions about it.
Urbana School District
Thermodynamics
Entropy, it isn't what it used to be. Presentation includes kinetic-molecular theory, heat and internal energy, thermal equilibrium, temperature scales, laws of thermodynamics, entropy, latent heat of fusion, specific heat, calorimetry,...
Teach Engineering
Preconditioning Balloons: Viscoelastic Biomedical Experiments
What does stretching a balloon have to do with equilibrium? Groups explore preconditioning by stretching a balloon to a point of equilibrium. They then measure the amount of force required to stretch the balloon to the same point several...
EngageNY
Networks and Matrix Arithmetic
Doubling a network or combining two networks is quick and easy when utilizing matrices. Learners continue the network example in the second lesson of this series. They practice adding, subtracting, and multiplying matrices by a scalar...
EngageNY
Vectors and Translation Maps
Discover the connection between vectors and translations. Through the lesson, learners see the strong relationship between vectors, matrices, and translations. Their inquiries begin in the two-dimensional plane and then progress to the...
EngageNY
Counting Rules—Combinations
Discover how combinations are different from permutations. In the third installment of a 21-part module, scholars learn how to determine combinations of objects. They learn to distinguish between situations where order is important and...
EngageNY
Writing Equations Using Symbols
Build upon prior equation writing experience to create more complicated equations. Lesson one in a 33-part unit builds upon the class members' sixth and seventh grade experience of writing linear equations. Several examples provide...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Greenhouse Gas Emissions — Natural and Human Causes
What impact do humans have on greenhouse gas emissions? What are the natural causes of these gasses? Thanks to the carbon cycle, carbon dioxide eats away at the earth's atmosphere with the intensified help of humans. Young scientists...
Virginia Department of Education
Rational Functions: Intercepts, Asymptotes, and Discontinuity
Discover different patterns by making connections between a rational function and its graph. An engaging instructional activity asks scholars to explore the behavior of different rational functions. Groups discover a connection between...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Plant Phenology Data Analysis
Beginning in 1851, Thoreau recorded the dates of the first spring blooms in Concord, and this data is helping scientists analyze climate change! The culminating instructional activity in the series of four has pupils graph and analyze...
PACER Center
Bullying 101: Guide for Middle and High School Students
Being a bystander can often cause as much harm as a bully causes. Junior high class members learn more about their role in a bullying situation with a presentation that defines the types of bullying, lists ways to deescalate a bullying...
Mathematics Vision Project
Module 1: Sequences
Take steps into sequences. An 11-lesson unit builds upon pupils' previous understanding of writing expressions to develop the idea of sequences. The resource explores both arithmetic and geometric sequences using recursive and explicit...
California Education Partners
Least and Greatest
Squares can be magic. Pupils use their knowledge of addition of positive and negative rational numbers to create a 3 X 3 magic square where the sums are 1. Scholars create addition and multiplication expressions with a set of rational...
Education Development Center
Choosing Samples
What makes a good sample? Your classes collaborate to answer this question through a task involving areas of rectangles. Given a set of 100 rectangles, they sample a set of five rectangles to estimate the average area of the figures. The...
Illustrative Mathematics
Comparing Growth, Variation 2
A twist on the first variation of the growth task, this task poses an argument on two explanations of which snake grew more, based on the idea that two is a larger part of six rather than 10.
Cornell University
Splitting Water with Electricity
Explore how electricity splits water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. Learners begin by calculating the voltage necessary to separate the water. They then perform the experiment and measure the ratio of hydrogen and oxygen bubbles.
Prestwick House
Author’s Purpose in Reagan’s “Tear Down This Wall” Speech
President Ronald Reagan's "Tear Down This Wall" speech, delivered on June 12, 1987 before the Berlin Wall, provides class members with an opportunity to examine three key aspects of informational text: author bias, the use of facts and...
PBS
Helping Hand
Reach out and grab something. Given the task of picking up objects at least two feet away, pupils design and build a grabber. The last activity in a series of five challenges requires learners to use information about fulcrums and levers.
Heritage Foundation
Crime and Punishment
You wouldn't give someone a 10-day timeout for eating a piece of candy. The US government, too, does not believe in unreasonable punishment. A variety of exercises exploring the clauses of the US Constitution prompts class members to...
California Department of Education
What’s A Hot Job?
What jobs are the next best thing? Curious career scholars explore their options in lesson three of a five-part series. Pupils research job trends and labor statistics before discussing the factors that influence occupation trends.