Usain Bolt and Superman have something in common—speed! A video of one of Bolt's races introduces young scholars to the concept of unit rate. Using data from the race, the narrator calculates a unit rate in kilometers per hour, which...

Revisit the 2012 Summer Olympics by having seventh graders calculate the unit rate sprinting speed of the 100-meter gold medal winner. 

What energy conversions occur in the operation of a device? Small groups investigate devices and the energy conversions that occur. The groups create energy flow diagrams with added conversion processes for each of the devices...

Use the given tasks and detailed teacher's commentary to introduce your 8th graders to the Pythagorean theorem and its converse. Embedded links to information about Egyptian geometry make your presentation interesting. Consider...

Jada has a rectangle board that is measured in inches. Young learners confirm their understanding of converting inches to feet. Then they find the area in square feet. Jada thinks she has a short-cut to convert inches square to square...

Your young weather buffs use compositions and inverses of functions to convert between Celsius, Fahrenheit, and Kelvin degrees. Then they analyze possible compositions and whether they exist in the real-life context.

Small groups use the engineering design process to build and test a vehicle capable of carrying 250 grams a distance of five meters. The design must allow for the storage of potential energy and turn it into motion,...

How efficient is a motor in a LEGO set? Future engineers conduct an activity where a LEGO motor-generator system raises an object to a specified height. They then show what they learned and use their measurements to calculate the energy...

Your class is to find the percent of the lot that is not covered by a house. Make sure your pupils understand the problems before they begin. The lot is the whole of the percent problem and the house is the part. The exercise is good...

The class gets to practice being a mathematician in ancient Greece, performing geometric application problems in the way of Eratosthenes. After following the steps of the great mathematicians, they then compare the (surprisingly...

Teams learn about the size of a nanometer by measuring objects and converting those measurements. A worksheet then tests the groups' abilities to use nanometers by having them determine the size of objects that are too small to...

Compare sizes of microscopic items. Given a set of labels of microscopic objects, pupils try to place them in order from smallest to largest. Scholars then compare their lists to the actual comparisons along with the measurements of the...

With minimal setup and maximum freedom, young geometers are encouraged to think outside the box on a seemingly simple application problem. Though the task seems simple, measuring a given paper clip and finding how many 10 meters can...

A multi-step problem has learners finding the actual area based on a scale drawing and then converting units at the end. Two different solution choices are listed depending on the preference on which step to start first. Both methods can...

Take your class on a North American adventure with a currency conversion problem. Pupils are asked to change US dollars into Canadian dollars and then to Mexican pesos. The commentary includes two solutions, converting by unit rates and...

Tired of waiting for hot water? Groups of three determine the efficiency of an electric water-heating device. They calculate the amount of energy it takes to heat the water and the theoretical amount of energy required to heat the water....

The humble soda can gets the geometric treatment in an activity that links math and science calculations. After a few basic assumptions are made and discussed, surface area calculations combine with density information to develop an...

Do you have an energy hog in your home? Individuals pick at least one room at home to determine the amount of energy the appliances consume. Using that information, pupils fill out a worksheet to determine the cost of running each...

Investigating the large numbers of science is the task in a simple but deep activity. Given a one-sentence problem set-up and some basic assumptions, the class sets off on an open-ended investigation that really gives some...

You don't need a scale to determine weight. This activity provides a way to use the concepts of air pressure and surface area to determine the weight of a vehicle by calculating the amount of weight each tire supports.

Learners are given a volume of a rectangular tank and are asked to find the water height. Because the total volume of the tank is given in liters, your geometers will need to use a unit ratio to convert to centimeters cubed. The exercise...

This is an opportunity for young mathematicians to apply reasoning to solve real-world problems with ratios. Even though there are three candidates for class president, learners will only consider two at a time, making the first problem...

Examine the relationship between time and geometry. A series of five lessons provides a grade-appropriate problem from elementary through high school. Each problem asks learners to compare the movement of the hands on a clock to an angle...

Get into the swing of things. Pupils use a pendulum to demonstrate the conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy and back. After measuring the speed of a pendulum and compare it to the calculated theoretical speed, they...