Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Spreadsheet Tutorial 4: t-Test
The t-test tutorial will fit your needs to a T. After calculating the mean, sum of squares, standard deviation, and variance of two data sets on a spreadsheet, scholars learn to calculate the t-values. They then learn to use the TTEST...
Education Development Center
Interpreting Statistical Measures—Class Scores
Explore the effect of outliers through an analysis of mean, median, and standard deviation. Your classes examine and compare these measures for two groups. They must make sense of a group that has a higher mean but lower median compared...
Curated OER
How does the solution change?
Four simple equations, each with two variables, try to get at the important question of reasoning about equations. The problem isn't to solve the equations, but to understand the nature of their solutions. These equations address the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Molly's Run, Assessment Variation
Part of as assessment series, the activity follows the lesson Molly's Run to practice ratios and dividing with fractions. Different solution options are given for your learners' preference. The commentary explains how the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Riding at a Constant Speed, Assessment Variation
Practice ratios and unit rates with tracking how long Lin took to ride her bike. Provided with different questions, your mathematicians can assemble their answers using a chart or setting up ratios. The activity is included in a set of...
Curated OER
Flipping for a Grade
What happens when your teachers get tired of grading tests and want to use games of chance to determine your grade? How would you decide which game they should play? Learn how to use expected value and standard notation to compare two...
Teach Engineering
Magnetic or Not?
The class must determine the magnetic properties of different materials, including aluminum and steel by sorting through materials using a magnet. Groups make a prediction on whether a material is magnetic and then perform...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Playing with Parachutes
This lesson certainly will not be a drag! Little engineers design parachutes that make use of air resistance and, as a result, slow the descent of the payload as much as possible. It is an opportunity to teach about many motion concepts:...
Illustrative Mathematics
Should We Send Out a Certificate?
Fred thinks his test score is high enough to earn him a certificate. Given the mean and standard deviation, use properties of normal distributions to calculate Fred's percentile ranking and see if he is right. Consider having your class...
Illustrative Mathematics
Overlapping Rectangle
Challenge young mathematicians' ability to compose and decompose shapes with this fun geometry puzzle. The goal is simple, locate all of the rectangles shown in a picture of three overlapping rectangles. Perform this activity as a whole...
Curated OER
Unstable Table
Bothered by a wobbly table? Learn how to fix this problem using concepts of slope and continuity. Pupils first consider the problem in two dimensions and then progress to three dimensions. The solution is really quite simple.
Curated OER
Minutes and Days
Elapsed time is a skill developed by the single question that is the center of this activity. Fifth graders are asked to find out the time that is 2011 minutes after the beginning of 2011. This question addresses the standard that...
Illustrative Mathematics
Toll Bridge Puzzle
Here is a great problem-solving activity for young mathematicians. Intended solely for instructional purposes, the activity is appropriate for learners to add four numbers together. Not only must they add four numbers together,...
Curated OER
Two Triangles' Area
Need an activity for teaching the Pythagorean Theorem? Geometry juniors apply the Pythagorean theorem to two triangles to determine a final calculation.
Teach Engineering
Load It Up!
See how a marshmallow can hold up a bridge load. Teams take a closer look at the design of bridge piers. They determine the types of loads that might affect a bridge, and, using that information, they calculate the needed cross-sectional...
Teach Engineering
Using Hooke's Law to Understand Materials
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...
Teach Engineering
Protecting Our City with Levees
Teams use the design process to design, build, and test a model levee to protect the town from a wall of water. A handout provides a price list for the materials learners can use to build their levee within a budget.
Teach Engineering
Dress for Success
Dressing for success is not always about looking sharp. Sometimes it is about staying warm and dry. Present your class with an activity that challenges groups of pupils to design a layered material for blizzard conditions. The teams test...
Teach Engineering
Rocks, Rocks, Rocks: Test, Identify Properties and Classify
Time is growing short. Teams work together to identify physical properties of rocks in order to determine the properties that would best suit their cavern shelter design.
Illustrative Mathematics
The Escalator, Assessment Variation
A great way to practice with unit rates, the activity gives your mathematicians an opportunity to compare different statements and select which are true. They can practice with "choose all that apply" by setting each statement into its...
Curated OER
Point Reflection
Use this task as an exit ticket for your eight graders during the geometry unit. All they need to do is identify the coordinates of a point reflected over y=2000.
Teach Engineering
A Good Foundation
It takes a strong foundation to build a house and a stronger one for a bridge. This resource presents the effects of geology and soil on bridge foundations. Working in groups, the class investigates the interaction of shallow and deep...
Teach Engineering
Chair Design
Can you design the perfect chair? Scholars apply the engineering design process to design and build a prototype of a new type of chair from wires. They test their designs with a wooden artist model or stuffed animal.
Teach Engineering
Breaking the Mold
A little too much strain could cause a lot of stress. Groups conduct a strength test on clay. Using books as weights, pupils measure the compression of clay columns and calculate the associated strain and stress. Teams record their...