NOAA
Off Base
How does carbon dioxide affect the world's oceans? The final installment in a series of six lessons has pupils research ocean acidification, then conduct an experiment to witness the delicate balance that exists in our seas. Materials...
NOAA
History's Thermometers
How is sea coral like a thermometer? Part three of a six-part series from NOAA describes how oceanographers can use coral growth to estimate water temperature over time. Life science pupils manipulate data to determine the age of corals...
Balanced Assessment
Fermi Estimates I
Enrico Fermi, the physicist responsible for the first nuclear detonation, was known for his ability to estimate with little or no data. Use this task to have your classes practice their Fermi skills. They estimate the magnitude of three...
Balanced Assessment
Fermi Estimates II
How many hot dogs does Fenway Park go through in a year? Learners estimate answers to this question and more as they work through the task. Problems require participants to make assumptions and use those assumptions to make estimations.
Balanced Assessment
House Plan
A short assessment has individuals determine the scale of a house plan. They use the scale to calculate the size of a door and window that need to be replaced, and then divide a bedroom in two, calculating the size of rooms created.
Balanced Assessment
School Zone
Find the right house within walking distance from school. The short assessment has pupils determine the houses that are a given maximum distance from a school. Individuals then determine the shortest and longest walks from the homes that...
NOAA
Biological Oceanographic Investigations – Through Robot Eyes
How can a robot measure the length of something when we don't know how far the camera is from the object? The lesson explains the concept of perspective and many others. Scholars apply this knowledge to judge the length of fish and the...
Inside Mathematics
Swimming Pool
Swimming is more fun with quantities. The short assessment task encompasses finding the volume of a trapezoidal prism using an understanding of quantities. Individuals make a connection to the rate of which the pool is filled with a...
California Mathematics Project
Model Solar System
The sun's diameter is 864,337 miles—challenge learners to create a scale model of the solar system that fits in your classroom. Scholars make conversions and work with scientific notation as they create the scale model.
Willow Tree
Measurement
Build a basic understanding of units of measure and create a great foundation for your learners. The lesson gives a complete overview of everything measurement, from types of measurement to rounding to conversions — it has it all!
Achieve
Greenhouse Management
Who knew running a greenhouse required so much math? Amaze future mathematicians and farmers with the amount of unit conversions, ratio and proportional reasoning, and geometric applications involved by having them complete the...
Achieve
Fences
Pupils design a fence for a backyard pool. Scholars develop a fence design based on given constraints, determine the amount of material they need, and calculate the cost of the project.
Achieve
Ground Beef
Ever wonder how a butcher creates the different types of ground beef? Young mathematicians explore the methods butchers use to create their desired ground beef quality. Given a combination of two types of meat with varying leanness,...
Achieve
Yogurt Packaging
Food companies understand how to use math to their advantage. Learners explore the math related to the packaging and serving size of yogurt. They then use unit analysis and percent values to make decisions on the product development.
Achieve
Rabbit Food
Keep your pets slim, trim, and healthy using mathematics! Pupils use a linear programming model to optimize the amount and type of food to provide to a pet rabbit. They model constraints by graphing inequalities and use them to analyze a...
Achieve
Corn and Oats
How much land does a parcel hold? How much fertilizer does it take for a field of corn? Pupils answer these questions and more as they apply ratio reasoning and unit analysis.
Achieve
Framing a House
If members of your class wonder where they can use the math they learn in middle school, let them discover the answer. Learners apply geometry concepts of scale and measure to calculate the costs of framing a house addition.
Achieve
Task: Storage Sheds
Bridge the gap between mathematics and Career Technical Education. Pupils research the cost associated with building storage sheds and analyze possible profit. They build scale models and determine if building and selling the sheds is a...
Achieve
Dairy Barn
Agriculture is truly a math-based profession! Help the dairy farmer determine the supplies needed to complete his barn. Using given dimensions, learners build equations and use units to determine the correct amount of materials.
NASA
NASA: Moving Cargo
How does NASA transport people and cargo to planets? The five-lesson unit breaks down the transportation system that scientists use to transport cargo to space. Pairs team up in order to devise a transportation system that will carry the...
National Sailing Hall of Fame
Sail Area Calculations
Do bigger sails mean that the sailboat goes faster? Middle and high schoolers compare sailboats, and learn that simply calculating sail area is not enough. A slideshow presentation demonstrates how to calculate the Sail Area to...
NASA
Transportation and Space: Reuse and Recycle
What can I use in space? The three-lesson unit has groups research what man-made or natural resources would be available during space exploration or habitation. Team members think of ways that resources can be reclaimed or reused in...
EngageNY
Graphs of Quadratic Functions
How high is too high for a belly flop? Learners analyze data to model the world record belly flop using a quadratic equation. They create a graph and analyze the key features and apply them to the context of the video.
EngageNY
End-of-Module Assessment Task - Algebra 1 (Module 5)
This unit assessment covers the modeling process with linear, quadratic, exponential, and absolute value functions. The modeling is represented as verbal descriptions, tables, graphs, and algebraic expressions.