West Contra Costa Unified School District
Pythagorean Theorem and Its Converse
Challenge scholars to prove the Pythagorean Theorem geometrically by using a cut-and-paste activity. They then must solve for the missing sides of right triangles.
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.
Bowland
Design the Mascot
Explore how resizing an object affects its area. The set of lessons challenges young mathematicians to design a mascot for electronic devices. These designs undergo resizing to determine how scale factors of dilation affect area.
Education Development Center
Area Model Factoring
Introduce learners to what factoring represents and it's relationship to a square with a resource about factoring and the method of area models. The questions are scaffolded to begin with introductory questions and eventually have...
Curriculum Corner
Standard and Word Form Match
Challenge mathematicians to match 18 standard form number cards to their corresponding word form card and record their pairs on a graphic organizer.
Balanced Assessment
Square in Square
Challenge the class to devise a method to determine the dimensions of a rectangle inscribed in another rectangle. Pupils make connections between functions and geometry as they examine the area and perimeter of a square or rectangle...
Balanced Assessment
Genetic Codes
Determine the number of possible genetic codes. Class members are challenged to determine the number of possibilities of a genetic code that is 20 bases long. They continue to explore the average lengths of broken RNA molecules.
Balanced Assessment
Curvy-Ness
Curves ahead! Develop a numerical measurement of curvy-ness. The class is challenged to come up with a definition of curvy that can be applied to curves. The class members use their defined measurement to describe a curve.
Illustrative Mathematics
As the Wheel Turns
Determine the location of a point on a moving wheel. The task challenges groups to determine the horizontal and vertical locations of a point on the edge of wheel that is moving. Teams first determine a function that will model the...
National External Diploma Program Council
Measuring in Metrics
Practice measuring skills with a 10-question worksheet that challenges scholars to measure lines using centimeters and inches.
PBL Pathways
Cell Phones
Calling all subscribers! Model revenue based on individual cell phone subscribers. The project-based learning activity presents a challenge to scholars from a cell phone company. Individuals model data provided to them from the company...
Teacher's Corner
Brandon's Baseball Collection
Ten questions make up a instructional activity that challenges baseball enthusiasts to read a graph then answer questions pertaining to the data's range, mean, median, and mode.
101 Questions
Apple Mothership
Explore Apple's spaceship office building. Built in the shape of a circle, the office building offers a unique floor plan challenge. Young scholars use the dimensions of the building to estimate the square footage for each employee.
101 Questions
Can-struction
Can you solve it?! A New York City art challenge involves making sculptures from cans. The task is to determine the number of cans used in the engineering award-winning sculpture. Scholars consider the patterns in the different layers to...
Kenan Fellows
Using Motion Sensors to Explore Graph Sketching
Get moving to a better understanding of graphs of derivatives. Using motion sensors, scholars vary their velocities to create graphs of the first derivative of a function. The activity challenges groups to first create a script of the...
101 Questions
Square Partitions
Challenge your classes while developing their problem-solving skills. A square is divided neatly into four equal triangles by its diagonals until one diagonal is moved from a vertex to the midpoint of one side. Now, scholars must devise...
Concord Consortium
Betweenness III
Don't let a little challenge get between your pupils and their learning! Scholars compare two absolute value functions to recognize patterns and use them to build their own functions with outputs that are between the given. They then...
Concord Consortium
Betweenness IV
Challenge your classes to think between the curves. Given two function formed by the combination of two exponential functions, individuals must write three functions in which all values would lie between the given. The question is...
CCSS Math Activities
Picking Apples
Pick the resource while it's ripe. A performance task challenges young mathematicians to consider the costs of apple picking. They compare the costs for two different orchards for different situations.
Concord Consortium
You Are What You Drive
Grab the wheel in learning about functions. A short performance task challenges young mathematicians to develop a function that describes the cars eight people drive. They consider whether the inverse of the function exists. If not, they...
Concord Consortium
Build a Box
Strive for gold with an informative resource. A short task challenges learners to investigate the thickness of a box made from a given volume of gold. The box must have specific dimensions, so setting up and solving a literal equation is...
Concord Consortium
Cheetah's Lunch
Run like a cheetah. A performance task challenges pupils to solve several different problems involving the speed of a cheetah. Given information for scenarios where the cheetah chases its prey, they determine if the big cat is fast enough.
Concord Consortium
Functions by the Slice
Piece by piece ... dismantling a function can highlight interesting patterns. The task asks learners to slice functions in sections with the same vertical change. They then recreate the graph with these slices positioned horizontally....
Concord Consortium
Sum and Product
From linear to quadratic with a simple operation. An exploratory lesson challenges learners to find two linear functions that, when multiplied, produce a given parabola. The task includes the graph of the sum of the functions as well as...