Illustrative Mathematics
Accuracy of Carbon 14 Dating II
The scientific issue of carbon-14 dating and exponential decay gets a statistics-based treatment in this problem. The class starts with a basic investigation of carbon content, but then branches out to questions of accuracy and ranges of...
101 Questions
You Pour, I Choose
Tall and skinny or short and stout, which glass hold the most liquid? Learners analyze dimensions of cylindrical glasses to determine the one holding the greatest amount of liquid. They brainstorm the relevant dimensions before making...
Education World
Predicting Pumpkins
If you want more pumpkin seeds, you should get a bigger pumpkin—right? Young harvesters use estimation skills to make a hypothesis about how many seeds they will find in a pumpkin before examining the real number inside.
Curated OER
M&Ms Count and Crunch
Students practice skills involving statistics and probability by making predictions on number of each color candy in one pound bag of M&Ms. They record both guesses and actual quantities, calculate percentages, and create bar graphs...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Metric Units of Capacity - Practice 12.8
You will appreciate a useful activity for grasping an understanding of liquid volume and practicing metric unit conversions. All of the problems involve liters and milliliters, so the conversions are very elementary. Neat drawings of...
Ohio Department of Education
Writing and Comparing Numbers in Scientific Notation-Grade Eight
Explore scientific notation in this mathematics lesson. Young mathematicians explore multiple representations of large number in scientific notation through the use of models, visual representation and expanded form. The lesson provided...
Curated OER
Extending the Definitions of Exponents, Variation 2
Introduce the concept of exponential functions with an activity that extends the definition of exponents to include rational values. Start with a doubling function at integer values of time, then expand table to include frational time...
Curriculum Corner
8th Grade Math Common Core Checklist
Ensure your eighth graders get the most out of their math education with this series of Common Core checklists. Rewriting each standard as an "I can" statement, this resource helps teachers keep a record of when each standard was taught,...
Mathematics Assessment Project
Estimating Volume: The Money Munchers
Don't stuff money under your mattress. To find out why learners first complete a task determining how $24,000 in cash would affect the height of a mattress and whether this same amount would fit into a suitcase of given dimensions. They...
Balanced Assessment
Monitor Pricing
Out with the old and in with the new. Learners use a set of prices of computer monitors from 1994 to make a prediction. They then use one current price and what they know about the old prices to make a more recent prediction. Their...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Tracking Genetically Modified Mosquitoes
What's that buzzing in your ear? An insightful lesson about genetically modified mosquitoes! Partnered pupils explore the creation, release, and monitoring of mosquitoes designed to reduce the mosquito population. After watching a video,...
Curated OER
Losing Ground
Students examine how effects of farming practices in the early 20th Century contributed to severe soil erosion of a large portion of the North American grasslands.
Curated OER
Tennis Ball Tubes
Students determine whether the height of a tennis ball tube or the distance around the tube is greater, or whether they are the same. Using the formula for the circumference and diameter of a sphere, they discuss the word problem, and in...
Curated OER
Ecological Footprint--How Does The Way We Live Affect Earth?
Students demonstrate an awareness of the global implications of decisions that individuals and families make about their needs and wants. They identify environmental and health issues related to the production and consumption of food....
Curated OER
Math in the Wetlands Field Trip
Get your class out in the environment for hands on math activities. In this wetlands lesson, learners transplant native plants, calculate how much soil is needed, and perform math activities based on this experience. They then make...
Curated OER
First Lines from Shakespeare
You may know famous quotations from Shakespeare's plays, but do you know how the plays start?All twenty-five questions in this helpful resource consist of the opening lines of a Shakespeare play for which you choose the title. Test your...
Curated OER
How to Host a Metric Field Day
Celebrate National Metric Week with a fun-filled field day where learners actively apply the metric system.
Teach Engineering
Introduction to Circuits and Ohm's Law
Take a very basic understanding of circuits and develop a strong understanding of the parts and function of a circuit. This activity is developed to be an independent exploration of circuits from the basics to series and parallel models....
Statistics Education Web
What Does the Normal Distribution Sound Like?
Groups collect data describing the number of times a bag of microwave popcorn pops at given intervals. Participants discover that the data fits a normal curve and answer questions based on the distribution of this data.
Illustrative Mathematics
Logistic Growth Model, Abstract Version
Here learners get to flex some serious algebraic muscles through an investigation of logistic growth. The properties of the constant terms in the logistic growth formula are unraveled in a short but content-dense activity. Moving...
NASA
Just How Far is That Star?
Pupils often wonder how we know the distance to various stars. Starting with a thought experiment and progressing to a physical experiment, they determine the brightness and distance to various stars. The evaluation requires critical...
NASA
Discovering Some of Your “Yardsticks” Are Actually “Meter-sticks”
The Milky Way gets great reviews on Trip Advisor — 100 million stars. The activity allows scholars to rethink their assumptions and prior knowledge. Pupils observe a set of two lights at equal distance and brightness, but they believe...
Salt River Project
How Do We Clean Polluted Water?
How do we clean up oil spills and other pollutants in the water? Explore water treatment strategies with a set of environmental science experiments. Groups remove oil from water, work with wastewater treatment, and perform a water...
Kenan Fellows
Using Water Chemistry as an Indicator of Stream Health
Will this water source support life? Small groups test the chemistry of the water drawn from two different sources. They then compare the collected data to acceptable levels to draw conclusions about the health of the source. The...