Whether you're using a collection of Dr. Seuss books to teach basic math skills like counting, adding, and subtracting, or exploring the different states of matter by melting a crayon with a hairdryer, a series...

Examine trends in student-to-teacher ratios over time. Building from the first task in the two-part series, classes now explore the pattern of student-to-teacher ratios using a non-linear function. After trying to connect the pattern to...

Make the most of your prom—with math! Pupils write and use a quadratic model to determine the optimal price of prom tickets. After determining the costs associated with the event, learners use a graph to analyze the break even point(s).

Your AP Calculus learners probably have their ID numbers memorized, but have they tried graphing them? Pique your pupils' interest by asking each to create a unique polynomial function based on their ID numbers, and then analyze the...

It's shark week! In this problem, young mathematically minded marine biologists need to study the fish population by analyzing data over time. The emphasis is on understanding the average rate of change of the population and drawing...

The behavior of a rational function near a vertical asymptote is the focus around this trip up a river. Specifically, numerical and graphical understanding is studied. The canoe context pushes the variables as numbers, rather than as...

Math and M&Ms® go great together when introducing a modeling activity. Allow your learners to simulate population growth and decay of fish in a pond and share their reasoning for the change in fish. With such an impact we have on our...

Get close up and personal with a drop of water to discover how the polarity of its molecules affect its behavior. Elementary hydrologists split and combine water droplets, and also compare them to drops of oil. Much neater than placing a...

What locations on Earth get the longest number of hours of daylight in the summer? Hint: It's not the equator! Use real-world sunrise and sunset data to develop trigonometric models that can be used to estimate the number of hours of...

Divide your school gym into breeding grounds and non-breeding grounds so that your zoologists can play a game simulating the seasonal migration of shorebirds. Players pick one of the included game cards and follow its directions, which...

Take a look at linear functions in a new environment. A three-stage algebra project first asks learners to model the salt concentration of an aquarium using linear functions. Then, using iterations, pupils create a set of input-output...

How many nurses does it take to support one doctor? A project-based activity asks learners to analyze state data to answer this question. Classes create polynomial functions from the data of doctors and nurses over a seven-year...

Your river sportsmen will explore an example of paddling upstream as they build functions modeling speed and time in terms of the speed of the current. They then use their algebraic models to interpret features of the function related to...

Modeling population growth gives learners an opportunity to experiment with real data. Comparing the growth rates in this real-life task strengthens learners' understanding that exponential functions change by equal factors over equal...

Your algebra learners discover that exponential functions, with a base larger than one, outgrow linear functions when the inputs increase sufficiently. Their analysis includes using a graphing calculator to produce tables.

Your learners analyze the familiar model of a cold beverage warming when it is taken out of the refrigerator. The general form of the equation and its graph are presented. Learners learn about the specific pieces of the function by...

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...

Early childhood students will develop listening skills as they read "Nuts To You" by Lois Ehlert. In this lesson students will learn about Students will learn facts about different types of squirrels and their behaviors. There will be a...

Encourage respect, responsibility, and caring within your classroom with a collection of lessons that spark dialogue and self reflection. To address character traits, lessons touch on topics such as staying safe in the...

Skate through a simulation on energy with an a activity that uses a computer simulation of a skater to reinforce the concept of conservation of energy. The resource guides pupils through scenarios using the computer simulation to...

Magnetic fields might not be a field of dreams but they are useful. Class members observe the reactions of magnetic fields using a compass, iron filings in a paper container, and iron filings suspended in mineral oil. 

Provide a Hooke for a lesson on elasticity with an activity that has groups investigate a set of springs. They use a set procedure to collect data to calculate the spring constant for each spring using Hooke's Law. The groups...

It used watt amount of energy? This resource investigates the power usage of small household appliances. Using a watt meter, groups measure the actual wattage used by an appliance and then calculate the energy used daily. 

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...