Did you know light can decrease visibility? Light pollution absolutely makes it more difficult to see stars. Scholars build a simple magnitude reader to determine the magnitude of stars. They use these data to estimate the impact of...

Learners look at bands of colors and estimate how many rings of color there are. While working in groups, they come up with a plan of how to accurately count the rings. They attempt to find a pattern in the colors, and decide whether...

Apply the concept of magnitude to estimate values and compare numbers. The ninth lesson of the 15-part series asks learners to write numbers to their next greatest power of 10 and then make comparisons. Scholars begin to understand the...

Young scholars investigate the concept of earthquakes and the different types of magnitudes. They research the Richter scale and how it is used to measure the intensities of earthquakes. Students then apply the concept by completing a...

High schoolers watch a video of real-world situations regarding speed, direction, velocity, force, etc. and answer questions while viewing. They then practice drawing and using vectors to solve more real-world problems.

Science, technology, and math come together in this one combination exercise. Analyzing the common soda can from both a purely mathematical perspective and a scientific angle allows for a surprisingly sophisticated comparison of...

Discover the connection between calories and weight. Pupils multiply their body weight times calorie estimates for various physical activities to calculate calories burned per minute and per hour. Worksheets a well as website links are...

Students practice grouping in different ways by putting numbers up to 1,000 in the correct place value. In this place value lesson plan, students estimate items in a jar and then count them out by grouping them by 10s.

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...

"Life is more risk management, rather than exclusion of risks." -Walter Wriston. Scholars use provided mortality data to determine how likely it is a person will die from a particular cause. They compare the data to the perception of the...

Students visit a website that features online interactive geology and biology simulations. They observe and estimate the amplitude of the largest wave and transfer the information to a nomogram. Based on the nomogram students will...

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...

Students use powers of ten to make reasonable estimations for list of questions. They share their problem solving techniques with the class.

Students estimate how many peas fit in a container. In this science lesson, students calculate the weight of a pea and record it. They use this data to calculate how many peas fit in a human brain.

Students decide on the reasonableness and relative magnitude of situations in their lives as Shel Silverstein did in the poem "How Many, How Much."

Young mathematicians learn how scientific notation is meant to save time. Part 10, out of a series of 15, asks scholars to recognize the correct use of scientific notation and finish by adding and subtracting numbers using...

Learners solve word problems using number sense. They convert fractions to decimals and mixed numbers. Pupils determine if a given fraction is greater or less than another fraction, and order numbers on a number line.

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...

Students explore the drawings of Rube Goldberg to design and construct a simple machine. They discuss simple machines, and using various materials and toy parts, design and construct a "Rube Goldberg" style machine to ring a bell.

Students attempt to design the tallest structure that they can with the given materials which are wooden dowels and rubber bands. They discuss the physics of their structure and how they would improve it the next time they built a...

Young scholars use optimization concepts to design their own container. In this optimization lesson plan, students understand how the optimization concept is critical in calculus and why products are packaged the way they are.

Instructions for building a simple electromagnetic motor are provided for the teacher. Aside from some sketchy background information and a list of content standards to be met, that is about all you will find in this resource. The motor...

Children play with barnyard animal cards to practice composing and decomposing numbers. With their "secret number" of animal cards in a cup, they shake and spill them onto a barn story board, counting how many animals fall in the barn...

Students participate in a role play in which they use simple machines to do the work of retrieving their sibling from a tree which lost its ladder. They investigate how work is accomplished when an object moves in the direction of the...