The key is in the leaves. Pupils enter data to create a stem-and-leaf plot. The resource then displays the plot and calculates the mean, median, and mode of the data. Using the plot and the calculated measures of spread, learners analyze...

Make your class into Pythagorean theorem fanatics in no time. What a great resource to get your sports enthusiasts into the math game! Read the commentary so you can you can strategize how to apply the three math practices.

Turn your classroom into a greenhouse with a lesson plan on plant growth. First, investigate the different parts of seeds, identifying the seed coat, cotyledon, and embryo. Then plant the seeds and watch them grow! Measure the new...

Young mathematicians find the surface area and volume of a square pyramid and a cone. In what looks like a typical activity out of a textbook, you'll find an activity where learners find an unknown measurement of a pyramid or...

Take a shot using a lesson on volume! Young learners watch a video showing a trashcan filling with paper balls. The task is to calculate the number of paper balls that will fit in the can. Pupils use volume calculations to make a...

How hard can it be to measure out two pounds? A short performance task introduces a situation where a balance scale is broken. It gives a method for measuring out two pounds and asks learners to evaluate the procedure. They must prove...

Public transportation is an important aspect of any growing city. Collaborative groups work to redesign a system for a city in need of restructuring. Young scholars design a route, create a timetable, and incorporate a quality control...

Let knowledge grow bountifully like plants in a garden. Given a diagram of a rectangular garden split into plots, scholars determine the area of the entire garden and the areas of the individual plots. As a culminating activity, they...

What does math have to do with a sore throat? When you mix water and salt you have a great review of how to represent proportional relationships by an equation or graph. Here the proportions of the mixtures may be different, but the...

It's time to roll up those sleeves and get a little dirty in the second lesson plan of this series on the science of food. Investigate where plants and animals get the minerals they need to live in this two-part exploration of soil....

An average home produces twice as many emissions as an average car. Teach your class how to reduce energy consumption by replacing standard incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs. Perform an experiment to compare...

Try to figure out what happens with shadows as a person moves between two light sources. A formative assessment lesson has individuals work on an assessment task based on similar triangles, then groups them based on their...

Which function models the data best? Pupils work through several activities to model data with a variety of functions. Individuals begin by reviewing the shapes of the functions and finding functions that will fit plotted data points. By...

Your classroom will be rockin' during an toe-tapping lesson! Dave Matthews inspires a lesson on proportions as youth listen to a song and predict its length. Lesson materials provide learners with ordered pairs that mark the time slider...

Did you know the hole in the ozone is seasonal and filled by January every year? The lesson plan uses scientific measurements of the ozone over the South Pole to understand patterns. Scholars learn that the hole grew bigger annually...

Shuffle the resource into your instructional activity repertoire. Scholars use randomly-generated iPod Shuffle playlists to develop ideas about randomness. They use a new set of playlists to confirm their ideas, and then decide whether...

The Pythagorean Theorem is a staple of middle school geometry. Scholars first investigate angle relationships, both in triangles and in parallel lines with a transversal, before proving and applying the Pythagorean Theorem.

Rigid motions are to congruence as what are to similarity? Investigate properties of rigid motions and define congruence in terms of rigid motions with the ninth chapter of a 10-part eighth grade workbook series. The...

Does jet lag affect a baseball team's performance in games? Read about how a baseball team's chance of winning a game can be affected by traveling over one, two, and three time zones. Readers then respond to five short answer questions...

Apply geometry to find the distance as the crow flies. An engaging lesson compares the distance a car must drive to the straight line distance between two locations. Scholars must manipulate a simulation, note the change in distances,...

All's fair in math and war. Scholars examine the Battle of Trafalgar using calculus. They set up and solve a system of differential equations to determine the number of ships remaining in each fleet over time.

Mystery is an exciting genre for young readers to investigate. The plots are so intriguing! Here is a series of lessons featuring Sherlock Holmes stories that invite learners to enter the world of the mystery genre.  Based on what...

Progress from proportional relationships to linear functions. Pupils first review concepts of proportionality covered in earlier grades. They then extend these concepts to linear functions, such as determining the slope of a...

Let the resource take center stage in a lesson on population density. Scholars use provided historical data on the center of the US population to see how it shifted over time. They plot the data on a spreadsheet to look the speed of its...