Teams learn about the size of a nanometer by measuring objects and converting those measurements. A worksheet then tests the groups' abilities to use nanometers by having them determine the size of objects that are too small to...

There is more than one way to answer a question; especially when you have fractions in measurement. Here are three questions with real-world situations in which 5th graders are asked to provide answers in three ways: a larger unit of...

You don't need a scale to determine weight. This activity provides a way to use the concepts of air pressure and surface area to determine the weight of a vehicle by calculating the amount of weight each tire supports.

Jada has a rectangle board that is measured in inches. Young learners confirm their understanding of converting inches to feet. Then they find the area in square feet. Jada thinks she has a short-cut to convert inches square to square...

Tired of waiting for hot water? Groups of three determine the efficiency of an electric water-heating device. They calculate the amount of energy it takes to heat the water and the theoretical amount of energy required to heat the water....

Candlelight is in the eye of the distant beholder. Scholars first watch a video clip of a commercial claiming that the human eye can see candlelight from 10 miles away. They use this information to calculate how far we can see...

How efficient is a motor in a LEGO set? Future engineers conduct an activity where a LEGO motor-generator system raises an object to a specified height. They then show what they learned and use their measurements to calculate the energy...

The incredibly shrinking meter—decimeters to centimeters, to millimeters, and now to nanometers! Learners may have a difficult time visualizing particles on a nanoscale. Help them see a little clearer using a well-designed lesson...

Your class is to find the percent of the lot that is not covered by a house. Make sure your pupils understand the problems before they begin. The lot is the whole of the percent problem and the house is the part. The exercise is good...

The title says it all: Could King Kong exist? Investigate how increasing the dimensions of an object affects its surface area and volume to mathematically conclude whether a creature with the weight and height of King Kong could actually...

Examine the relationship between time and geometry. A series of five lessons provides a grade-appropriate problem from elementary through high school. Each problem asks learners to compare the movement of the hands on a clock to an angle...

The class gets to practice being a mathematician in ancient Greece, performing geometric application problems in the way of Eratosthenes. After following the steps of the great mathematicians, they then compare the (surprisingly...

With minimal setup and maximum freedom, young geometers are encouraged to think outside the box on a seemingly simple application problem. Though the task seems simple, measuring a given paper clip and finding how many 10 meters can...

Compare sizes of microscopic items. Given a set of labels of microscopic objects, pupils try to place them in order from smallest to largest. Scholars then compare their lists to the actual comparisons along with the measurements of the...

Groups use a marble to determine the viscosity of household fluids. The procedure calls for pupils to measure the amount of time it takes a marble to fall a specified distance in the fluids. Using unit conversions and algebra, the teams...

The humble soda can gets the geometric treatment in an activity that links math and science calculations. After a few basic assumptions are made and discussed, surface area calculations combine with density information to develop an...

Create an egg-citing study of energy. Pupils investigate the effect of height and mass on the overall amount of energy of a falling object. The fourth segment in a six-part series on energy uses a weighted egg falling from different...

Don't let the learning in your classroom get jammed up! Intrigue your scholars with an open-ended scenario to explore. A video presentation shows a challenging stretch of road that is susceptible to traffic jams. The task is to determine...

A multi-step problem has learners finding the actual area based on a scale drawing and then converting units at the end. Two different solution choices are listed depending on the preference on which step to start first. Both methods can...

Learners are given a volume of a rectangular tank and are asked to find the water height. Because the total volume of the tank is given in liters, your geometers will need to use a unit ratio to convert to centimeters cubed. The exercise...

Teams must determine the size of cavern needed to house the citizens of Alabraska to protect them from the asteroid impact. Using scaling properties, teams first determining the number of people that could sleep in a classroom and then...

Chart your way to an understanding of nanoscale. Using a Google map, learners estimate a radius around their location of 1,000 and 1,000,000 meters. Predicting what 1,000,000,000 meters would look like takes them off the charts!...

Did you know that leaky faucets waste $10 million worth of water? Conservationists perform an experiment and draw best-fit lines to explore how the US Geological Society determined this value.

Let your class bounce to examine the concept elastic potential energy. Individuals bounce on a pogo stick in order to calculate its elastic potential energy. Groups then compare the elastic potential energy to the gravitational...