Federal Reserve Bank
Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building
How tall is the Empire State Building? Lead your class through a collaborative estimation activity to determine the number of quarters it would take to reach the top and teach the following concepts: human capital, human resources,...
Curated OER
More Physical Education in 2002 #152
Challenge your class with this problem-solving experience. Learners design a way to add more periods of physical education in the school week without building more gyms. Then, fifth and sixth graders make a list of ideas and choose one....
Discovery Science Center
Kindergarten Observing, Comparing and Contrasting
Although this is a science instructional activity, it can be adapted to help meet Common Core standards in math as well. Starting scientists describe physical properties of objects and explore three forms of water. To address the Common...
Curated OER
Exploring Phases of Matter
Students discuss and experiment with the phases of water. In this phases of matter lesson, students recognize the different states of matter. Students measure and record changes and understand when the state changes.
Mathematics Vision Project
Quadratic Functions
Inquiry-based learning and investigations form the basis of a deep understanding of quadratic functions in a very thorough unit plan. Learners develop recursive and closed methods for representing real-life situations,...
Inside Mathematics
Conference Tables
Pupils analyze a pattern of conference tables to determine the number of tables needed and the number of people that can be seated for a given size. Individuals develop general formulas for the two growing number patterns and...
Colorado State University
If You Can't Predict the Weather, How Can You Predict the Climate?
Why is the weather man wrong so often? Young climatologists discover how chaos rules both weather and climate through a math-based activity. Using an iterative equation, the class examines how small day-to-day weather events total up to...
Michigan State University
Gases Matter
Young scientists learn that seeing isn't necessarily believing when it comes to the states of matter. After performing a fun class demonstration that models the difference between solids, liquids, and gases, children complete a series of...
Curated OER
Class of Gold
How can you see a number in nature? Here, learners discover both Fibonacci numbers and the golden ratio by exploring a number of different resources. Note: Some of the resources are older and may be missing some of the links, but...
Curated OER
What is Matter?
Students investigate what matter is and how it changes states. For this physical properties lesson, students examine the vocabulary database and identify the characteristics of the three phases of matter. Students perform a...
Curated OER
Principles of Flight: Bernoulli's Lift
Students discover how air pressure effects flight. In this physics lesson, students create two types of airplane wings so they can observe the way air pressure creates lift. Students utilize a printout to create the airplane...
American Statistical Association
Exploring Geometric Probabilities with Buffon’s Coin Problem
Scholars create and perform experiments attempting to answer Buffon's Coin problem. They discover the relationships between geometry and probability, empirical and theoretical probabilities, and area of a circle and square.
Mathematics Assessment Project
Modeling Motion: Rolling Cups
Connect the size of a rolling cup to the size of circle it makes. Pupils view videos of cups of different sizes rolling in a circle. Using the videos and additional data, they attempt to determine a relationship between cup...
Curated OER
Introducing the Concept: Percents
Students explore the math concept of percents. In this percents lesson, students examine visual examples of the relationships among fractions, decimals, and percents. Students also practice solving problems that their instructors model.
Curated OER
Density
Learners predict when an object will float or sink based on comparison of density of the object to the density of the substance in which it is placed. The access a website and sketch the object in the first column of their table and then...
Curated OER
Heat and Matter
Students explore liquids and solids by conducting in class experiments. In this matter activity, students define the properties of matter and how heat can change those properties. Students experiment with heating objects such as butter...
Curated OER
CO2 and You
Students study the scientific evidence about carbon dioxide emissions. They learn to calculate the amount of energy used by different appliances. They complete a worksheet which analyzes the amount of energy that their home uses.
Curated OER
Prairie Populations
Eleventh graders practice the Quadrat Survey Technique to analyze the biodiversity of a local plant community. They compare its biodiversity with the documented changes in biodiversity of the tallgrass prairie over time.
Curated OER
Chemical Changes by Gems
Seventh graders observe that heat is produced when two substances are combined. They brainstorm how, and then experiment to find out which of two chemicals created the heat.
Curated OER
Comparing Data
Eighth graders create a survey, gather data and describe the data using measures of central tendency (mean, median and mode) and spread (range, quartiles, and interquartile range). Students use these measures to interpret, compare and...
Curated OER
Beads, Balls, and Beakers
Students analyze the amount of space required to pack round objects. In this geometry lesson, students practice using space economically by practicing packing spheres into beakers. They then translate this concept to molecules being...
Curated OER
Real-World Linear Equations
Eighth graders practice technology skills through the use of a spreadsheet and a discovery lesson focusing upon linear equations. The technology allows for the visual changes to be displayed for different lines of equations.
Curated OER
Follow the Road to Riches
Students study the story of gold and silver mining in the San Juan region. Through the use of interactive video and the Internet, they will examine the various events occurring at this time. They create a timeline highlighting the major...
Curated OER
Wind Power
Fourth graders develop an understanding of how engineers use wind to generate electricity. They will build a model anemometer to better understand and measure wind speed. They discover that engineers design wind turbines that generate...