How much math can your learners pour out of a cereal box? Your middle schoolers will explore their favorite cereal and calculate the surface area, volume, and weight ratios and log this information on the provided worksheet. They get to...

Package design is an economic necessity. Young scholars assume the role in an interesting inquiry-based lesson. Given 24 cubic shaped candies to package, they must determine the arrangement that uses the least amount of cardboard to...

While the lesson focuses on right triangles, this activity offers a great way to practice the area of all triangles through an interactive webpage. The activity begins with the class taking a square paper and cutting in in half; can they...

The title says it all: Could King Kong exist? Investigate how increasing the dimensions of an object affects its surface area and volume to mathematically conclude whether a creature with the weight and height of King Kong could actually...

How do you measure surface tension? The fifth installment of a nine-part series is an experiment where young scientists use tubes of different sizes to measure surface tension. They calculate the average and standard deviation of the...

Don't let your classes get stuck on area calculations—grab their attention with an inquiry-based lesson! Scholars must develop a plan to determine how may sticky notes it takes to cover the surface of a door. They decide on the...

Add a sense of excitement to your math class with this race across the country. Using their knowledge of all things circular, young mathematicians work in pairs answering a series of pi-related word problems as they hop from one city to...

Looking for a fun and creative way to celebrate Pi Day? Then this is the resource for you. From a scavenger hunt and trivia contest to PowerPoint presentations and skills practice worksheets, this collection of materials is a...

Here's a new meaning to the expression throwing away money...a carpet of coins! An intriguing lesson requires calculations to determine the coin that would be the cheapest option, but it's a little tricky. The cost of the coin...

Weathering is not necessarily a result of the weather. Scholars conduct an experiment to explore the effect of surface area and volume on the weathering process. They create their own sugar cube rocks using the same number of cubes—but...

Learners are designing a stunning new water feature for an aquarium, but they soon discover that more than just a pretty home for their fishy friends is required.  From calculating the volume of a composite shape through the...

Most appropriate if you are applying the entire unit to build a rain garden at your school, this installment involves calculating the area that will drain into it. Your garden planners will need data from previous lessons, so this one...

What constitutes a good soap bubble? In the second installment of a nine-part series, scholars apply their understanding of surface tension to soap bubbles. They experiment to determine the best solutions to use for the...

You won't want to flush a great lesson down the drain! An intriguing resource asks learners to predict the number of sheets of toilet paper on a roll. Presented with the dimensions of the roll and one sheet of paper, scholars make...

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.

"Fore!" All right, no one really yells this out in miniature golf, but this well-defined activity will have your charges using lots of numbers in their unique design of a miniature golf hole. Included in the activity criteria is the...

Several subjects are addressed within the context of a science lesson plan about the sun's ultraviolet rays. Elementary earth scientists consider protection of the skin with sunscreens (health), estimating and measuring surface area or...

Try your hand at scale models. Scholars create a scale model of an object using a scale factor of their choice. As part of the project, they give presentations on their processes and calculations. This is the last installment of the...

Which modification is the best? Using the scientific method, pairs determine the effects of each control surface on the distance of a glider's flight. The activity, section 16 in a 22-part unit on aviation, allows pupils to gain a better...

How high will it bounce? Groups determine the height different balls bounce off of different surfaces. By performing the necessary calculations, they determine the initial and final momentum of the balls. The included worksheet provides...

The hunt is on! Send young mathematicians on a search for shapes in the first lesson of this two-part series. Each time a child finds a hidden shape, he draws it on his paper, and continues searching for the rest. Perform this activity...

Take your class out to visit your automobile and use the tires to compute the weight of the vehicle. This is done by measuring the surface of the tire meeting the ground and the air pressure. This is a fun lesson in the relationship...

Build a scale model of a home built out of shipping containers. A hands-on activity has scholars watch a video about a home built from shipping containers and then design their own home. They build scale models of their designed homes...

Model an oil spill cleanup. An engaging engineering lesson has groups using aerogels to simulate an oil spill cleanup (vegetable oil in water). Along the way, they learn about nanotechnology and hydrophilia/hydrophobia.