Math Solutions
Dr. Seuss Comes to Middle School Math Class
If you think Dr. Seuss has no place in a math classroom, then take a look at this resource. Based on the classic children's book Green Eggs and Ham, this sequence of activities engages children learning to model real-world contexts...
Curated OER
Tennis Balls in a Can
Make your classroom interesting by teaching or assessing through tasks. Deepen the understanding of Geometry and motivate young mathematicians. The task uses investigation with tennis balls and their container to prompt learners to...
Florida Center for Instructional Technology
A Human Number Line: Teacher Notes
Twenty-one pieces of tagboard can lead your class to a greater understanding of integers when you use them to form a human number line. After creating this math tool, two strategies for adding and subtracting will have your...
Curated OER
Congruent Rectangles
Very simply, geometers examine a pair of rectangles on graph paper and find a translation and rotation to demonstrate their congruence. A couple of questions follow to stimulate critical thinking about other possibilities.
Curated OER
Patterns in the Multiplication Table
Explore patterns in the multiplication table in order to deepen your third graders' understanding of this essential skill. Implement this activity as a whole-class lesson, allowing students to work in pairs or small groups to support...
Curated OER
Triangles Inscribed in a Circle
Are you tired of answers without understanding? Learners can give a correct response, but do they really understand the concept? Have young mathematicians think deeper about linear functions, angles, and formulas in algebra....
Baylor College
What Dissolves in Water?
One of water's claims to fame is as the universal solvent. Young physical scientists experiment to discover which materials dissolve in this special compound. You could never be more prepared for teaching this lesson than by using this...
Curated OER
Tile Patterns I: Octagons and Squares
This can be used as a critical thinking exercise in congruence or as a teaching tool when first introducing the concept. Four octagons are arranged in such a way that a square is formed in the middle. With this information, geometry...
Curated OER
Symmetry of the Addition Table
Help your class discover the commutative property of addition with this exploration of the addition table. By folding and coloring the table, a symmetry is found that directs students to an understanding of this crucial mathematical...
Curated OER
Reflecting a Rectangle Over a Diagonal
Use the handout as guided or independent practice in drawing a reflection of a rectangle over a line. Three rectangles are provided for practice in addition to a critical thinking question.
Illustrative Mathematics
Half of a Recipe
Kids love to cook! What is a better place to learn mixed numbers than with a recipe? It is up to learners to decide how they want to divide this recipe in half. They may choose to model the mixed number and then divide the model by two....
Curated OER
Math Challenges
Students participate in a series of challenging math lessons designed to engage their critical thinking skills. In these real-world problem solving lessons, student solve symmetry and repeated pattern problems, make lists/tables to...
Illustrative Mathematics
$20 Dot Map
Challenge the addition skills of young learners with this open-ended math problem. The task is simple, get from start to finish by connecting a series of three numbers. The trick is that the sum of the numbers must be less than...
Illustrative Mathematics
What is a Trapezoid? (Part 1)
Challenge your class to construct a definition for trapezoids. Looking at four examples and four non-examples, students individually create definitions and use them to classify an unknown shape. Allow for small group and whole-class...
PBS
KidVid: Fractions and Scale
Scale the challenge of learning about ratios and scales. Young mathematicians learn to incorporate fractional measurements when considering scales and scale factors. They use an interactive to investigate the concept and critically...
Curated OER
Math Challenges
Students engage their critical thinking skills to solve challenging math problems. In these problem solving lessons, student work with tessellations, weights/measurement, reasoning, surface area, geometric shapes, and algebraic procedures.
Illustrative Mathematics
Adding Multiples
Mathematicians practice communicating why the sum of two multiples of a number results in another multiple of that number. Encourage learners to construct a viable argument by applying the distributive property or by drawing a diagram....
Illustrative Mathematics
Paying the Rent
Learning how a bank account works is a useful tool. The exercise in the resource is to deduct rent from a checking account and create an equation from a description. Participants then graph the balance of the bank account versus months...
Curated OER
Which is Closer to 1?
A seemingly simple question that reveals a lot about a student's understanding of fractions. In finding an answer, learners compare fractions with different denominators that are both greater and less than one. No number line is...
Illustrative Mathematics
Drinking Juice, Variation 3
It is up to the learner to find the amount of juice originally in a bottle, knowing what fraction of the juice is left, and the amount that has been consumed. The accompanying commentary provides a useful and detailed description of...
Illustrative Mathematics
Drinking Juice, Variation 2
An excellent activity using word problems where pupils interpret and compute quotients of fractions. The commentary includes using a fraction bar model and equations to represent the problem. In this variation of the resource, the...
Illustrative Mathematics
The High School Gym
Learners apply critical thinking skills as they analyze data about the temperature inside a gymnasium during a school assembly. The focus is on representing temperature as a function of time and interpreting input and output values...
Illustrative Mathematics
Throwing Baseballs
This is a wonderful exercise for learners to apply their critical thinking skills along with their knowledge of quadratic functions and parabolas. Young mathematicians investigate a real-world scenario about the height a baseball reaches...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Playing with Parachutes
This lesson certainly will not be a drag! Little engineers design parachutes that make use of air resistance and, as a result, slow the descent of the payload as much as possible. It is an opportunity to teach about many motion concepts:...