Illustrative Mathematics
Weather Graph Data
Teaching young mathematicians about collecting and analyzing data allows for a variety of fun and engaging activities. Here, children observe the weather every day for a month, recording their observations in the form of a bar graph....
Illustrative Mathematics
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor
What better way to engage children in a math lesson than by talking about ice cream? Using a pocket chart or piece of chart paper, the class works together creating a bar graph of the their favorite ice cream flavors. Learners then work...
Illustrative Mathematics
Telling a Story With Graphs
Turn your algebra learners into meteorologists. Learners are given three graphs that contain information about the weather in Santa Rosa, California during the month of February, 2012. Graph one shows temperatures, graph two displays the...
Wake Forest University
Authentic Activities for Connecting Mathematics to the Real World
Check out the handout from a presentation that contains a collection of high school algebra projects connecting a variety of mathematics to the real world. Activities range from simple probabilities to calculus. The activities...
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Eruptions: Old Faithful Geyser
How long do we have to wait? Given several days of times between eruptions of Old Faithful, learners create a graphical representation for two days. Groups combine their data to determine an appropriate wait time between eruptions.
Annenberg Foundation
Skeeters Are Overrunning the World
Skeeters are used to model linear and exponential population growth in a wonderfully organized lesson plan including teachers' and students' notes, an assignment, graphs, tables, and equations. Filled with constant deep-reaching...
Illustrative Mathematics
Who Has the Best Job?
Making money is important to teenagers. It is up to your apprentices to determine how much two wage earners make with their after school jobs. Participants work with a table, an equation, and a graph and compare the two workers to see...
Teach Engineering
Understanding the Air through Data Analysis
Is there a correlation or causation relationship between air pollutants? Groups develop a hypothesis about the daily variation of air pollutants, specifically ozone and CO2. Using Excel to analyze the data, the groups evaluate their...
Houston Area Calculus Teachers
Collecting Driving Data
Give AP Calculus classes the opportunity to check the accuracy of their calculations! A calculus activity involves the collection of data, the application of mathematics, and the analysis of the accuracy of results. Young mathematicians...
Teach Engineering
Start Networking!
Class members create their own social networks by collecting signatures before graphing the interactions with their fellow classmates. The degree distribution of the simulated social network is determined by calculating the degree of...
Teach Engineering
Matching the Motion
It is not always easy to walk the straight and narrow. In the sixth portion of a nine-part unit, groups actively recreate a graph depicting motion. Individuals walk toward or away from a motion detector while trying to match a given...
Illustrative Mathematics
Robot Races
Analyze data on a graph to answer three questions after a robot race. Learners practice comparing ratios and reading points on a graph. Answers may vary on the last question based on accuracy of graphing. Use the instructional...
Illustrative Mathematics
Bike Race
A graph not only tells us who won the bike race, but also what happened during the race. Use this resource to help learners understand graphs. The commentary suggests waiting until the end of the year to introduce this topic, but why...
Curated OER
Hand Span and Height
Is there a relationship between hand span width and height? Statisticians survey each other by taking measurements of both. A table that can hold data for 24 individuals is printed onto the worksheet, along with questions for analysis....
Illustrative Mathematics
Chocolate Bar Sales
In this real-world example, algebra learners start to get a sense of how to represent the relationship between two variables in different ways. They start by looking at a partial table of values that define a linear relationship. They...
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Varying Motion
For this secondary mathematics learning exercise, high schoolers collect data based on a person’s motion. From this data, students create graphs comparing displacement, velocity, and acceleration to time. The five-page learning exercise...
Teach Engineering
Linear Regression of BMD Scanners
Objects may be more linear than they appear. Scholars investigate the relationship between the number of bone mineral density scanners in the US and time. Once they take the natural logarithm of the number of scanners, a linear...
Curated OER
Math Games for Skills and Concepts
A 27-page packet full of math games and activities builds on algebra, measurement, geometry, fractional, and graphing skills. Young mathematicians participate in math games collaboratively, promoting teamwork and skills practice.
Illustrative Mathematics
Puppy Weights
Nobody can say no to puppies, so lets use them in math! Your learners will take puppy birth weights and organize them into different graphs. They can do a variety of different graphs and detail into the problem based on your classroom...
Curated OER
Mathemafish Population
It's shark week! In this problem, young mathematically minded marine biologists need to study the fish population by analyzing data over time. The emphasis is on understanding the average rate of change of the population and drawing...
Teach Engineering
Energy on a Roller Coaster
Roll with your class into the idea of conservation of energy. Pupils use a roller coaster track to collect data to reinforce the concept of conservation of energy and the influence of friction. Class members then create a graph from...
Curated OER
Music and Sports
With so much talent in the classroom, do your musicians and athletes have related interests? This problem has your learners taking data from their classmates to decide whether there is an association between the two activities. The...
Curated OER
Basketball Bounces, Assessment Variation 2
This un-scaffold summative assessment tasks learners to use the height of a bouncing basketball, given the data in graph and table form, to choose the model that is represented. Learners then use the model to answer questions about...
Curated OER
Basketball Bounces, Assessment Variation 1
This highly scaffolded, summative assessment tasks learners to choose the model that represents the height of a bouncing basketball given the data in graph and table form. Learners then use the model to answer questions about the...