Tone and mood are easy to use interchangeably—and yet they are very different elements of literature. Help middle schoolers discern between the way a speaker feels about his or her subject and the way the audience is meant to feel with a...

Are you searching for a purpose for geometric constructions? Use an engaging approach to explore dilations. Scholars create dilations using a construction method of their choice. As they build their constructed dilation, they...

Start the exploration of trigonometry off right! Pupils build on their understanding of similarity in this lesson that introduces the three trigonometric ratios. They first learn to identify opposite and adjacent...

Building trigonometric basics here will last a mathematical lifetime. Learners expand on the previous activity in a 36-part series by examining relationships between the sine and cosine of complementary angles. They also review the...

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...

NASA's LCROSS mission is dropping a probe into a lunar crater. Groups design a system to travel down a zip line and drop a marble onto a target in the classroom. The groups then modify their designs based upon testing. 

What does order of operations have to do with solving equations? A video explains solving two-step equations using a do/undo chart. Learners recognize the operations within an equation and use inverse operations to undo those...

A bite of bits. The first lesson plan in a unit of 15 introduces the class to the byte. Pupils learn about other standard units for measuring file sizes, develop an understanding of relative sizes and the kind of units used to...

Having more letters in your name helps you get a better grade in your math class—or does it? Learners create scatter plots to organize data. The lesson places emphasis on determining scale and intervals and labeling axis.

Perfect for visual and hands-on learners, an engaging lesson prompts pupils to consider the different-sized boxes they can create from a piece of cardboard. They develop a model to determine the size of the box with the greatest...

Buying a new sofa? Learn how to use the Pythagorean Theorem, as well as algebra and graphing techniques, to determine whether the sofa will fit around a corner (which I'm sure you'll agree is a very important consideration!).

Protect yourself from identity theft! Establishing a strong understanding of the Pythagorean identity allows learners to prove that sine^2x + cos^2x = 1. They then use the identity to find sine or cosine ratios given the other.

Triangles, triangles, and more triangles! In this second installment of a 36-part series, your young mathematicians explore two increasingly challenging constructions, requiring them to develop a way to construct three triangles that...

Which pulley system will give us a whale of a good time? Teams compare the theoretical and actual mechanical advantages of different pulley systems. They then form a recommendation for how to move a whale from an aquarium back to the ocean.

Buying enough candy for trick-or-treaters without spending a lot of money can be the ultimate Halloween trick. Middle schoolers solve two holiday-themed word problems to determine which brand of candy is the better deal, based on cost...

Looking for higher-level thinking questions? This assessment provides questions that challenge young mathematicians to think and analyze rather than simply memorize. Topics include piecewise functions, linear modeling, exponential...

Help the class visualize operations with complex numbers with a lesson that formally introduces complex numbers and reviews the visualization of complex numbers on the complex plane. The fifth installment of a 32-part series reviews...

One of the key questions in statistics is whether the results are good enough. Use an activity to help pupils understand the importance of sample size and the effect it has on variability. Groups collect their own sample data and compare...

Let's go fly a kite. By flying a kite, class members observe the difference in air flow. The class notices the characteristics of banners tied to the kite string to determine where wind turbulence stops. Adding an anemometer to...

Challenge the class to devise a method to determine the dimensions of a rectangle inscribed in another rectangle. Pupils make connections between functions and geometry as they examine the area and perimeter of a square or...

Develop a more precise definition of similar. The lesson begins with an informal definition of similar figures and develops the need to be more precise. The class learns about dilations and uses that knowledge to arrive at a...

Build upon the Pythagorean Theorem with the Law of Cosines. The 10th part of a 16-part series introduces the Law of Cosines. Class members use the the geometric representation of the Pythagorean Theorem to develop a proof of the Law of...

To determine the dimensional change to quadruple the area, class members determine how to increase the dimensions of a square and a circle to increase the perimeter by a given factor. they then calculate the necessary factor to...

Does it matter how many points to dilate? The resource presents problems of dilating curved figures. Class members find out that not only do they need to dilate several points but the points need to be distributed about the entire curve...