Yummy Math
Penny Wars
As the saying goes, a penny saved is a penny earned. Young scholars use a penny activity to earn their way to an understanding of volume. Given three different-sized cylindrical containers, individuals make calculations to determine the...
101 Questions
Stacking Cups
Facilitate an understanding of equality using a modeling task. After watching different-sized cups being stacked, learners use their math skills to determine when the height of each cup tower will be the same. Meant as an introduction to...
101 Questions
Thanksgiving Taters
What would a meal be without the taters? The question is, how long does it take to peel those potatoes? Given the rate of peeling one potato, scholars predict the time it takes to peel the bag. The twist is that the first potato was...
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Bank Shot
Bank on geometry to line up the shot. The resource asks the class to determine the location to bank a cue ball in a game of billiards. Using their knowledge, class members determine where to hit the bumper to make a shot and discuss...
Illustrative Mathematics
Security Camera
A different-than-normal problem that allows learners to practice their reasoning to find an answer. The problem bases itself off a graph drawing of a store that needs to install security cameras. The challenge is to find which placement...
Illustrative Mathematics
How Many Colored Pencils?
Support young mathematicians' interpretation of place value in order to multiply single-digit numbers by 10. The task builds upon and enhances a learners' understanding of place value, a second grade skill, while introducing them to...
Illustrative Mathematics
Guess My Number
Make a game out of solving equations. This particular activity works well for pairs of learners. Follow the instructions to have player one pick a number and player two verbally give an equation. Participants need to make sense of a...
Education Development Center
Making Sense of Unusual Results
Collaboration is the key for this equation-solving lesson. Learners solve a multi-step linear equation that requires using the distributive property. Within collaborative groups, scholars discuss multiple methods and troubleshoot mistakes.
Illustrative Mathematics
Equal Area Triangles on the Same Base II
A deceptively simple question setup leads to a number of attack methods and a surprisingly sophisticated solution set in this open-ended problem. Young geometers of different strengths can go about defining the solutions graphically,...
Curated OER
Stock Swaps, Variation 3
More on the fictitious takeover of the Apple Corporation by Microsoft. In this scenario, Microsoft has $28.00 per share to spare, so how many do they need to offer to make an even trade? This is an engaging problem to solve when...
Curated OER
Stock Swaps, Variation 2
If Microsoft wanted to take over Apple, how many shares would they need to break even? This is an ideal task for seventh graders who are studying proportional relationships and applying them to real-world scenarios. Use it as an...
Illustrative Mathematics
Field Day Scarcity
Introduce young mathematicians to concepts of financial literacy with this open-ended word problem. With seven dollars to spend during field day and given a list of available items and their prices, children must determine how they want...
101 Questions
Safe Cracking
How long would it take to break into a safe by testing every possible combination of codes? Pupils view a video clip of this happening and must determine the total amount of time before success. They measure how long each step takes, add...
Curated OER
Rounding and Subtracting
Common Core is all about getting your learners to open their minds and think about the why and how. This problem has them thinking about unknown numbers and their relationship with one another when we round and subtract. They will have...
North Carolina State University
Construction
Engineering design projects serve as great opportunities for collaborative problem solving. In this case, students work in small groups designing, building, and eventually testing a structure that meets a teacher-specified objective. It...
Illustrative Mathematics
Archimedes and the King's Crown
Learners will shout "Eureka!" in this quick but deep activity replicating the famous bathtub experiment of Archimedes. Given the scenario of a king with a suspected fake crown, young investigators develop formulas using density to...
PBL Pathways
Boogie Boards
Solve a complex business puzzle by building a linear programming model. An engaging project-based learning problem has classes examining transportation costs and manufacturing limitations from several plants. Ultimately, they use their...
Curated OER
Pi Day: The Other Math Holiday!
Happy Pi Day! This collection of games, experiments, and activities leads participants through an exploration of the many aspects and attributes of that mysterious quantity, pi. Activities range from using statistical experimentation to...
Education Development Center
Rational Exponents
It's rational to root for your class to learn about exponents. Scholars study rational exponents by reading a fictional dialogue between classmates. They analyze the conversation to understand the connection between rational exponents...
Education Development Center
Finding Parallelogram Vertices
Four is the perfect number—if you're talking about parallelograms. Scholars determine a possible fourth vertex of a parallelogram in the coordinate plane given the coordinates of three vertices. They read a conversation...
Education Development Center
Adding Fractions with Unlike Denominators
If the fractions don't have a common denominator, make them have one. Learners first read and analyze a conversation of pupils trying to add 2/5 and 1/2. They compare the process of adding fractions to the process of adding quantities...
Education Development Center
Anita's Way to Add Fractions with Unlike Denominators
Could you develop your own way to add fractions with unlike denominators? An in-depth task has scholars examine a fictional conversation between several people in which they discuss a method of adding fractions with unlike denominators....
Illustrative Mathematics
DVD Profits, Variation 1
The idea in the resource is to understand the connections between proportional relationships, lines, and linear equations. To stay within the context of the standard, skip the part of the resource that solves with unit rates. Instead,...
101 Questions
Best Circle
Drawing the perfect circle is harder than one would think! What makes a circle a circle and how can you define that with a formula? Young mathematicians devise their own methods of analyzing the imperfections of circle drawings. Using...