Young geometers and biologists investigate the math of nature in an activity that is just the bee's knees. Participants will study the tessellations of hexagons in a beehive, along with the natural rationale behind the specific shape....

Your class will be very interested in the results of this activity. How long does it take a MP3 and video game player to charge?  Sam only has an hour and the MP3 player only has 40% of its battery life left. Plus, his video player...

The scientific issue of carbon-14 dating and exponential decay gets a statistics-based treatment in this problem. The class starts with a basic investigation of carbon content, but then branches out to questions of accuracy and...

Show your classes how different means can represent the same data. Individuals collect household size data and calculate the mean. Pupils learn how handling of the data influences the value of the mean. 

Making banana pudding despite misplacing your one-cup measuring cup is easy as long as you can find your quarter-cup measuring cup! This real-life activity provides a good opportunity for learners to interpret division of a whole...

Young geometers become pool sharks in this analysis of the angles and lengths of a trick shot. By using angles of incidence and reflection to develop similar triangles, learners plan the exact placement of balls to make the shot....

A simple question, with a not-so-simple answer. Working with whole and mixed number measurements in inches, feet, and yards presents a problem with many possible solutions. A great activity that challenges the minds of young...

Here learners get to flex some serious algebraic muscles through an investigation of logistic growth. The properties of the constant terms in the logistic growth formula are unraveled in a short but content-dense...

A second attack at figuring out the number of leaves on a tree, this activity makes both an excellent follow-up to version 1 and a stand-alone activity. Learners practice setting parameters and deciding acceptable estimate precision, and...

On your mark, get set, GO! The class sprints toward the conclusions in a race analysis activity. The staggered start of the 400-m foot race is taken apart in detail, and then learners step back and develop some overall race strategy...

Your young population scientists analyze a table of values, write a model to represent the real life data, finish the table of data and predict future populations in a collaborative, real-life activity.

Make an informed decision when choosing a medical insurance provider. An engaging lesson asks your classes to write piecewise models to represent the cost of different medical plans. The project-based learning activity is a variation of...

Students determine how much they would need to feed a family for a month. They plan meals and use Internet grocery stores to find the cost of individual food items. They brainstorm in small groups to come up with 1 weeks worth of menus.

Learners are designing a stunning new water feature for an aquarium, but they soon discover that more than just a pretty home for their fishy friends is required.  From calculating the volume of a composite shape through the...

Geometric volume calculations are brought into the real world in a quick set of application problems. Learners are asked to help a patient figure out how to drink a prescribed amount of water both at work and at home. This activity...

You can never have enough cookies, but do you have enough ingredients? This activity allows your bakers to discover how many batches of cookies they can make with the ingredients provided. Also useable as an independent assignment, your...

Here is an activity that is intended to highlight a very important issue about precision in reporting and understanding statements in a realistic scientific context. Discuss different ways of reporting the half life of Carbon 14...

The hunt is on! Send young mathematicians on a search for shapes in the first lesson of this two-part series. Each time a child finds a hidden shape, he draws it on his paper, and continues searching for the rest. Perform this activity...

Seventh grade statisticians randomly select five states and then determine the mean area. The class then works together to create a dot plot of their results. 

How can you model exponential decay? Explore different situations involving exponential decay functions and decreasing linear functions by performing activities with MandM candy, popcorn kernels, and number cubes.

Extend scholars' learning experience with a unit consisting of five shape lesson plans, an extension activity, assessment, and rubric. Begin by reading a story about shapes, then conduct an overview and assign pupils' their first...

Knowledge of statistics and probability can increase your advantage when playing games. The activity asks learners to analyze the game of MasterMind to determine the number of possible codes. They also examine different variations of the...

Students complete an on line, teacher created, webquest to study the origin of probability, theoretical and simulated probability; computing the probability of two independent events; and mutually exclusive events. They make a Venn...

Have fun while your class creates a timeline of their lives. They record events before and after they were born on a line with 10 integer pairs consisting of one integer on each side of zero. Many extension activities can be done in...