Howard County Schools
Exponential Decay Exploration
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.
Chicago Botanic Garden
Historical Climate Cycles
Scientists use ice core samples to obtain temperatures of the earth from 400,000 years ago! The third of five lessons instructs pupils to interpret historical climate data to see changes over time. In part I, participants interpret...
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...
Bowland
Mystery Tours – Plan Your Tour
Everyone loves a vacation and a set of three activities has groups planning a tour of the U.K. using given distance, time, and price data. They solve a variety of problems related to the trip and produce a report on the success of...
Serendip
How Do We Sense the Flavors of Food?
We taste with our taste buds, so why do flavors change when we have a stuffy nose? Scholars experiment with taste testing while holding their noses and then while smelling. They record their observations in pairs and come together to...
Illustrative Mathematics
Function Rules
Function machines are a great way to introduce the topic of functions to your class. Here, you will explore the input and output to functions both using numerical and non-numerical data. Learners are encouraged to play with different...
Virginia Department of Education
Work and Power
Assist your class with correctly calculating the values for force, work, and power as they determine the amount various activities require. They gather data and participate in a group discussion to compare results upon conclusion of the...
NASA
Newton Car
If a car gets heavier, it goes farther? By running an activity several times, teams experience Newton's Second Law of Motion. The teams vary the amount of weight they catapult off a wooden block car and record the distance the...
Towson University
Case of the Crown Jewels
Can your biology class crack the Case of the Crown Jewels? Junior forensics experts try their hands at DNA restriction analysis in an exciting lab activity. The lesson introduces the concept of restriction analysis, teaches pipetting and...
Virginia Department of Education
Heat and Thermal Energy Transfer
How does radiation affect our daily lives? Answer that question and others with a lesson that discusses radiation and its use in thermal energy transfer through electromagnetic waves. Pupils investigate vaporization and...
EngageNY
Comparing Linear and Exponential Models Again
Making connections between a function, table, graph, and context is an essential skill in mathematics. Focused on comparing linear and exponential relationships in all these aspects, this resource equips pupils to recognize and interpret...
Space Awareness
Oceans as a Heat Reservoir
Oceans absorb half of the carbon dioxide and 80 percent of the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Scholars learn how and why the oceans store heat more effectively than land and how they help mitigate global warming. Pupils...
Serendip
Understanding and Predicting Changes in Population Size – Exponential and Logistic Population Growth Models vs. Complex Reality
Salmonella poisoning impacts over 200,000 people in the United States each year. Scholars learn about the growth of these bacteria using multiple approaches. Then they apply the same growth calculations to endangered species and think...
EngageNY
Probability Rules (part 1)
In statistics, probability rules—literally! Learners use their previous knowledge and explore a set of rules for conditional probability, independent probability, and complements. Given different scenarios, they must determine what type...
Curated OER
The Demographics of Immigration: Using United States Census Data
High schoolers work together to analyze United States Census data on immigration. They compare and contrast the data and determine how immigration numbers have changed over time. They calculate percentages and make their own...
Curated OER
Observations (collecting data)
Students observe and collect data about the earthworm. In this observation of an earthworm lesson plan, students use an earthworm to determine the effects of light and incline on the earthworm's behavior. They practice making...
Curated OER
Handling Data: measure of Average
Fifth graders analyze data from a simple table. For this graphing lesson, 5th graders compare distributions. Students recognize that the mean helps them find the formula. Students answer questions on the mean, median, and range.
Curated OER
Weighted Objectives Table and Optimum Mix Sheet
Students analyze data and determine an appropriate concrete mixture. In this technical solutions lesson, students discuss weighted objectives, review sample scenarios, and rate concrete recipes to identify how well water infiltrates....
Curated OER
Frequency Tables
Seventh graders construct frequency tables and box-and-whisker plots. After constructing tables and plots, they take a quiz on mean, median, mode, range, scientific notation, and number properties.
Curated OER
Data Analysis and Probability
Students make their own puzzle grid that illustrates the number of sit-ups students in a gym class did in one minute, then they make a histogram for this same data. Then they title their graph and label the scales and axes and graph the...
Curated OER
Analysis of Data
Learners analyze DNA banding patterns for similarities and differences among individuals and between populations. They examine individual prepared gels then pool the class data to come to an overall conclusion.
Curated OER
Using the Balance
Students determine the mass of various objects. In this integrated math and science lesson, students use an arm balance to compare a known object to a combination of washers with a fixed weight. Students record data, construct a bar...
Curated OER
Probability Using M&M's
Students estimate and then count the number of each color of M&M's in their bag. In this mathematics lesson, students find the experimental probability of selecting each color from the bag. Students create pictographs and bar graphs...
Curated OER
Using Vegetation, Precipitation, and Surface Temperature to Study Climate Zones
Young scholars begin their examination of the climate zones found around the world. Using a software program, they identify the relationship between the vegetation, climate and temperatures of the different zones. They also plot...