PBL Pathways
Potassium-Argon Dating
Find the age of a fictional sample of rocks using a genuine approach. A well-designed lesson asks young mathematicians to use exponential modeling to analyze half-life. As a project-based learning activity, scholars communicate...
Teach Engineering
What's Wrong with the Coordinates at the North Pole?
Here is an activity that merges technology with life skills as individuals use Google Earth to explore the differences between coordinate systems and map projections. The self-guided worksheet is the fourth segment in a nine-part unit....
Curated OER
Introduction to Flight: A Math, Science and Technology Integrated Project
Seventh graders review graphing procedures and practice locating points using x,y coordinates. Students calculate the areas of the top and bottom surfaces of the airfoil. They construct a test model of the airfoil.
Curated OER
Wildflower Beautification Project
Students, in cooperative groups, design and create a wildflower garden for the community. They write letters to property owners requesting use of their land and then write invitations to their parents and to local, state, and federal...
Discovery Education
Future Fleet
Turn your pupils into engineers who are able to use scientific principals to design a ship. This long-term project expects pupils to understand concepts of density, buoyancy, displacement, and metacenter, and apply them to constructing a...
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...
PBS
Heart to Heart
Study heart health and math in one activity. After measuring their resting heart rates by finding the pulse in their wrists, learners build a stethoscope to listen to their heart rate, and note the differences between the two methods.
Mascil Project
Packaging
Wrap up an engineering lesson with a worthwhile project. An engineering design task challenges groups to develop a package for a pharmaceutical company given constraints on the volume. Learners then create a presentation to highlight...
Microsoft
Variables
You won't want to replace the resource with anything else. Future computer scientists use Minecraft to learn about variables in computer coding. They engage in several activities to master the variable code block, then apply it in an...
Radford University
A Place at the Table
Find a seat at the table. Learners design a non-rectangular picnic table given constraints on the number of people that should be able to sit at the table. They draw blueprints and build scale models of their tables. After researching...
Curated OER
Math All Around Us!
Pupils walk around their neighborhood and school to find objects that remind them of a math concept or vocabulary term. In this real world math lesson plan, students find math concepts in various familiar locations and take pictures...
Curated OER
Ornithology and Real World Science
Double click that mouse because you just found an amazing lesson plan! This cross-curricular Ornithology lesson plan incorporates literature, writing, reading informational text, data collection, scientific inquiry, Internet research,...
Curated OER
Scaling it Down: Caves Have Maps, Too
Measurement and map skills are the focus of this lesson, where learners crawl through a "cave" made out of boxes, desks and chairs, observing the dimensions. Your young geographers measure various aspects of the cave and practice...
Curated OER
Mt. Whitney to Death Valley
This is an intriguing problem that brings together real-world data, technology, and mathematical problem solving. If visibility wasn't an issue, could you see from the highest point in the lower 48 states, Mt. Whitney, to the lowest...
Curated OER
Build Your Dream Science Lab
Would your ideal science lab be filled with bubbling beakers and zapping Tesla coils? Or would it contain state-of-the-art computer technology and data analysis? Dream big with an innovative lesson that connects math and language...
Mathematics Vision Project
Module 7: Modeling with Functions
The sky's the limit of what you create when combining functions! The module begins with a review of transformations of parent functions and then moves to combining different function types using addition, subtraction, and...
Kenan Fellows
Saving Those Who Save Us: Exploring the Use of Sensors with Data Visualization
Sensor technology is amazingly accurate and useful. Combining the sensor technology and mathematical knowledge, scholars design experiments to answer a question they have developed. Questions may focus on light sensing, temperature...
Curated OER
Penny Basketball: Making Sense of Data
Explore four web-based interactive sites to develop a baseline understanding of statistics. Learners play a series of penny basketball games and collect data regarding their shooting statistics. Groups decide who is the "top" penny...
Teach Engineering
Bone Mineral Density Math and Beer's Law
Hop into a resource on Beer's Law. A PowerPoint presentation introduces Beer's law as part of calculating bone density from X-ray images in the sixth activity in the series of seven. Individuals work on practice problems with this law...
Curated OER
Systems of Equations and Real Life
What a great classroom resource! The intention of this lesson is to show that real-world math can and should be applied to the community in which your students reside. The class relates properties of equations to solving for species...
Concord Consortium
Here Comes the Sun
Many phenomena in life are periodic in nature. A task-based lesson asks scholars to explore one of these phenomena. They collect data showing the sunrise time of a specific location over the period of a year. Using the data, they create...
Microsoft
Arrays
Zoos are just elaborate arrays. Scholars learn the meaning of arrays and how to create them in Minecraft. Applying this knowledge, they write a program to create a zoo within the game's world. They also complete an independent project...
Curated OER
Building Design Project
Middle schoolers work cooperatively in small or larger groups to create a structure. They design and explain every aspect of the building. This is a terrific inter-disciplinary unit which students enjoy.
Intel
Energy Innovations
Collaborative groups examine the importance of energy resources on quality of life by researching different energy sources and alternative energy sources through data analysis. They make a comparison of different countries and cultures,...