University of Colorado
Happy Landings: A Splash or a Splat?
Huygens spacecraft landed on Saturn's moon Titan in 2005, making it the farthest landing from Earth ever made by a spacecraft. In this hands-on activity, the 12th installment of 22, groups explore how density affects speed. To do this,...
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.
Illustrative Mathematics
Invertible or Not?
Two for one—create an invertible and non-invertible function from the same data. The task presents a function table with missing outputs for the class to use to create two functions. One of the functions should have an inverse while the...
Chicago Botanic Garden
GEEBITT (Global Equilibrium Energy Balance Interactive TinkerToy)
Students use the GEEBITT excel model to explore how global average temperatures are affected by changes in our atmosphere in part two of this series of seven lessons. Working in groups, they discuss, analyze graphs, and enter data to...
Illustrative Mathematics
Multiples of Nine
Which numbers are multiples of 9? Task class members to find the first ten multiples of 9 in a straightforward assessment worksheet.
Illustrative Mathematics
Counting Stamps
Stamps come in sheets, strips, and singles. Young mathematicians use their knowledge of hundreds, tens, and ones to determine how many stamps Mike has altogether.
Kenan Fellows
A Farmer’s Challenge to Breed to the Greatest of Grapes
What does your class know about GMOs? Are they savvy to selective breeding? Challenge young minds to engineer the greatest crop of all time using a hands-on genetics unit. Learners discover the good and bad details of selective breeding,...
101 Questions
Gas Light
You don't want to leave any learners stranded! Explore ratios using an analysis of gas mileage and distance. Given a scenario, individuals must determine if a car has enough gas to make it to the next gas stop.
Concord Consortium
Betweenness I
Just between us, this is a pretty cool lesson! Given two functions with the same slope, learners write three new functions whose outputs are all between the given functions. The question is open-ended, allowing pupils to explore the...
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...
American Statistical Association
Chunk it!
Chunking information helps you remember that information longer. A hands-on activity tests this theory by having learners collect and analyze their own data. Following their conclusions, they conduct randomization simulations to test...
Concord Consortium
Broken Spreadsheet I
There is power in spreadsheet formulas and learners use this power to model quadratic data. Given a scatterplot of a parabola, pupils create formulas in a spreadsheet to populate the data. The formulas they use lead to an understanding...
Concord Consortium
Broken Spreadsheet II
Work in reverse with the product becoming the given. Using a spreadsheet image of the graph of a trigonometric function, young scholars investigate methods of creating spreadsheet data that results in the given graph. The catch? The data...
Concord Consortium
Defining Logarithms
An inverse relationship exists between exponents and logarithms, allowing mathematicians to easily convert one to the other. Scholars apply a brief definition of logarithms with a few practice problems. Then, they discover the...
Concord Consortium
King for a Day
Rumor has it exponential functions help solve problems! In a kingdom filled with rumors, young scholars must determine the speed a rumor spreads. The ultimate goal is to decide how many people must know the rumor for it to spread to the...
Concord Consortium
Intersections I
One, two, or zero solutions—quadratic systems have a variety of solution possibilities. Using the parent function and the standard form of the function, learners describe the values of a, b, and c that produce each solution type. They...
Concord Consortium
In a Triangle
What's in a triangle? Just 180 degrees worth of angles! Young learners use given angle relationships in a triangle to write an algebraic representation. Using a system of equations, they simplify the equation to a linear representation.
College Board
Is That an Assumption or a Condition?
Don't assume your pupils understand assumptions. A teacher resource provides valuable information on inferences, assumptions, and conditions, and how scholars tend to overlook these aspects. It focuses on regression analysis, statistical...
New York City Department of Education
Grade 2 Literacy in Social Studies: Where Is Home?
What makes a community? How communities differ? Young scholars research different types of communities, small rural towns, and large crowded cities. They respond to writing prompts, and write essays in groups to understand the wide...
Curated OER
Caterpillar Connections
Third graders investigate numerical and geometric patterns and express them in words or numbers. In this algebraic reasoning lesson, 3rd graders analyze the structure of the pattern and how it changes or grows, organize information...
Curated OER
Torque Me Off
Students investigate the lever and the mathematics associated with levers. They determine the conditions necessary to balance a system of forces around a fulcrum.
Curated OER
Mother Nature Pattern Maker
Students in a teacher education program enhance their awareness of patterns. They discover how to support their students in developing this skill in mathematical terms. They role play the role of a K-2 student and collect images from...
Curated OER
Patterns In Hexagon Tables
Sixth graders construct a rule about the number of sides found in a pattern of hexagons. In this mathematical problem solving lesson, 6th graders observe different hexagon patterns and create a rule about the relationship between the...
Curated OER
On Our Own- Surviving on Another Planet
Students investigate current models for Lunar and Martian settlements and study the mathematics behind these designs. They design their own Lunar or Martian settlement with an explanation of why their model would work best.