Illustrative Mathematics
How Many Containers in One Cup / Cups in One Container?
The object is to model fraction division by asking “How many are in one group?” It is a difficult concept to understand, but developing the model that shows one cup to a certain amount of container or one container to a certain amount of...
Illustrative Mathematics
Interpreting a Division Computation
Mathematicians show their understanding of a division problem. If a student can apply long division to a pair of numbers and determine a quotient, what other factors and multiples become apparent? The example illustrates a simple...
Illustrative Mathematics
Running to School, Variation 2
Rose's commute to school is a fractional distance. After she runs part of the way, your class needs to determine what fractional distance she ran. This problem explores fraction operations through modeling and computation. The...
Illustrative Mathematics
Running to School, Variation 3
How far is it between school and home? Here is a relatable activity where the participant runs to school a certain fraction of the way. That distance is given in miles. It is up to your learners to determine the distance between home and...
Illustrative Mathematics
How Many Servings of Oatmeal?
Here is another way to illustrate division of a whole number by a unit fraction. In this case, the problem is asking if there are so many servings per cup, how many servings are in a package of multiple cups. Learners are to model their...
Illustrative Mathematics
Art Class, Assessment Variation
Play with paint and decide the ratio to make different shades of green. When mixing paint colors, your painters should decide which ratios make the same shade and what is needed to mix other ratios for a different shade of green. This is...
Illustrative Mathematics
Election Poll, Variation 1
Your class will learn what it means to take a random sample of a population and to draw inferences from the information gained. In part a, of the exercise, you discuss with your class how students during a class election can be best...
Illustrative Mathematics
Reasoning about Multiplication and Division and Place Value, Part 1
Help your class make sense of quantities and their relationships. Given is the product of two numbers. It is up to your number crunchers to think about the quantitative relationship when the product is one-tenth or ten times the product...
Illustrative Mathematics
Reasoning about Multiplication and Division and Place Value, Part 2
The learner puts reasoning and estimation to work. The directions are to place a decimal in the answer to make the equation true. Pupils are to look at the two problems, one multiplication and one division, and estimate an answer. No...
Illustrative Mathematics
Peaches and Plums
According to the resource graph, which costs more: peaches or plums? Algebra learners compare two proportional relationships and then throw in a banana. Leaving out the scale helps students become intuitive about graphing.
Illustrative Mathematics
Shrinking
Is Aunt Nancy shrinking? Find out by calculating with the average height women lose each year. The activity practices multiplying and dividing with decimals and rounding the final answer.
Illustrative Mathematics
Writing Constraints
Use this resource to present your number crunchers with how to write a constraint equation and to determine viable solutions. The price of an object limits the amount that can be purchased. The speed at which you walk limits the number...
Illustrative Mathematics
Paying the Rent
Learning how a bank account works is a useful tool. The exercise in the resource is to deduct rent from a checking account and create an equation from a description. Participants then graph the balance of the bank account versus months...
Illustrative Mathematics
Computing Volume Progression 2
Once your geometers know how to apply the formula V = l w h, they will be ready to take on the fractional volume of a fish tank. Have your number crunchers swap heights so they can see that the fractional volume will not change.
Illustrative Mathematics
Guess My Number
Make a game out of solving equations. This particular activity works well for pairs of learners. Follow the instructions to have player one pick a number and player two verbally give an equation. Participants need to make sense of a...
Illustrative Mathematics
Miles to Kilometers
Can your mathematicians come up with an easy way to convert miles to kilometers? Start by asking learners to write an algebraic expression for each of the descriptions given. Once they determine that they are both the same, ask...
Illustrative Mathematics
Buying Gas
A quick problem to test your middle schoolers' knowledge of dividing with decimals. Also a good practice of unit rates, they must compute the cost of one gallon of gas when given the total amount for a fill up. Can be used as a preface...
Illustrative Mathematics
Summer Swimming
Here is a real-world application for systems of equations. When is it better to pay an enrollment fee and lower daily rate, and when is it better to pay the regular price? The local swim center is having a special offer, reductions in...
Illustrative Mathematics
The Sign of Solutions
Positive or negative, zero or no solution, are all possibilities for the solution of a linear equation. Here the resource gives examples of linear equations in one variable and their type of solutions. The resource comes with commentary...
California Academy of Science
Parts of an Antelope
There are so many wonderful parts to an animal: fur, antlers, tails, and legs, to name a few. A large diagram of an antelope is used to start a matching game, where the class matches body parts made of the same material. They discuss...
Curated OER
Ecological Cycles Part 1
Knowing about the hydrologic cycle is the first step to understanding the carbon cycle. Upper graders discuss the earth's water content, polar ice caps, and the concept of the ecological cycle as it applies to carbon, nitrogen, and other...
National Research Center for Career and Technical Education
Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics: Tire and Wheel Assemblies
Is bigger really better? By the end of this lesson, learners will be able to apply formulas for computing the diameter of tires and wheel assemblies. Begin by showing a slide presentation that will review definitions for radius and...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Wind Tunnel Testing
One of the factors that automotive engineers must consider is wind drag. The less wind drag, the more efficient the car will be. They perform many tests in wind tunnels, then refine their designs and test again. Using simple materials,...
National Research Center for Career and Technical Education
Business Management and Administration: Compound Interest - A Millionaire's Best Friend
Many math concepts are covered through this resource: percentages, decimals, ratios, exponential functions, graphing, rounding, order of operations, estimation, and solving equations. Colorful worksheets and a link to a Google search for...