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Circling Trains
And round and round the park we go! Given a description of an amusement park with the locations of three attractions connected by walkways, learners consider what happens when additional attractions join the mix by doubling the length of...
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Circling
Come full circle in learning about conic sections. Learners first look at the type of conic section formed when concentric circles intersect a standard coordinate plane. They then see which type forms when two sets of concentric circles...
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Center of Population
Let the resource take center stage in a lesson on population density. Scholars use provided historical data on the center of the US population to see how it shifted over time. They plot the data on a spreadsheet to look the speed of its...
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The Line and the Ellipse
What do a line and an ellipse have in common? Maybe zero, one, or two points! Learners consider the equation of an ellipse and a line to determine if their graphs have any shared points. They then write a system of equations, including...
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The Bus Route
Patterns are extremely helpful when solving a puzzle. Young scholars attempt to find times a bus will pass each stop. They identify a pattern in the known stop times to identify the solutions.
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Systematic Solution II
Up the difficulty level by solving a system of equations with variable coefficients. Young scholars devise a plan to solve for x and y in terms of a and b. They represent their solutions as expressions and explain their process and the...
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Swimming Pool I
Take a dive into a three-dimensional task. Given a specific surface area, individuals must maximize the volume of a cylindrical swimming pool. They combine their understanding of surface area and volume to create a cubic function that...
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Summertopia
What if the unit of money changes tomorrow? Would you be prepared? Learners calculate currency conversions using fictional units of money. The fictional unit's base is 60 rather than 100, which can connect to time or even degrees.
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Stocking the Shelves
How many ways can you stock a shelf? It's probably more than you think! Young scholars use data in a frequency table to determine how many ways to stock a shelf given a specific constraint for types of groups. They then repeat the task...
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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...
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Squares and Cubes
The task is simple, but the solution is a little more complex. Learners must find the smallest number that results in a perfect square when multiplied by two and a perfect cube when multiplied by three. The task requires an analysis of...
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Square-Ness
Are there some rectangles that are more square than others? A thought-provoking task asks individuals to create a formula that objectifies the square-ness of a set of rectangles. They then use their formulas to rank a set of rectangles.
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Here Comes the Sun
Many phenomena in life are periodic in nature. A task-based lesson asks scholars to explore one of these phenomena. They collect data showing the sunrise time of a specific location over the period of a year. Using the data, they create...
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Heights and Weights
Height is dependent on weight—or is it the other way around? Given data from a physicians handbook, individuals compare the height and weight of males and females at different areas. They calculate differences and ratios to assist with...
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Graphing Elements
How do you graph a sentence? Scholars do just that as they represent relationships between independent and dependent variables with a graphical representation. Given a sentence, they determine the pertinent relationship and create a...
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Graphical Depictions
Parent functions and their combinations create unique graphical designs. Learners explore these relationships with a progressive approach. Beginning with linear equations and inequalities and progressing to more complex functions,...
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Going Up
Going on up—and up and up! An open-ended task asks learners to model the movement of an amusement ride with parametric equations. They then analyze their equations to determine how the shadow of the ride's car moves as it rises at a...
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Gestation and Longevity
Is the gestation length of an animal a predictor of the average life expectancy of that animal? Learners analyze similar data for more than 50 different animals. They choose a data display and draw conclusions from their graphs.
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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....
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Function Project
What if a coordinate plane becomes a slope-intercept plane? What does the graph of a linear function look like? Learners explore these questions by graphing the y-intercept of a linear equation as a function of its slope. The result is a...
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Boards IV
Build a connection between algebraic sequences and spreadsheets. Learners examine a specific folding pattern and convert the pattern into a spreadsheet. The goal of the spreadsheet is to produce a sequence of a specific pattern modeled...
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Boards III
Learn to visualize mathematical patterns as a folded pattern. Beginning with a visual display, the task encourages pupils to view sequences as a folded table. The pattern of the table then becomes a formula in a spreadsheet that...
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Boards II
Build spreadsheet skills while investigating decimal multiplication. An open-ended task asks learners to edit a spreadsheet to create a multiplication table for decimals. Provided with a specific interval, pupils create formulas that...
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Bill the Ball Bearing Man
Just how durable could a hollow ball bearing be? Learners model the strength of the walls of a ball bearing as a function of the radius of its cavity. They use their models to make reasonable conclusions about the probability of failure...