6-8
Using two online activities, students use ratios and percents to compare population density and explore various statistical measures.
6-8
We are lucky to live in an age where there is a lot of nutrition information available for the food we eat. The problem is that much of the data is expressed in percents and some of those percents can be misleading. This lesson is designed to enlighten students about how to calculate percent of calories from fat, carbohydrates, and protein. The calculations are made to determine if a person can follow the Zone Diet with only McDonald's food items.
3-5, 6-8
Explore different representations for fractions including improper
fractions, mixed numbers, decimals, and percentages. Additionally, there
are length, area, region, and set models.
6-8
In this activity, students work in groups as contestants on a fictitious game show,
Now and Then.
They use their knowledge of percent computations and percent change to
answer each game show question. As a culminating activity, the students
create their own game show and host it in front of the rest of the
class.
6-8, 9-12
In this lesson, students purchase the common items used in their mathematics classroom such as desks, chairs, calculators, manipulatives, etc. They are given a budget that they must work within plus coupons that they must use when making their purchases. The lesson lets students have fun while applying the concepts of discount and percent. Since students use a purchase register to track their purchases, it also serves as a review of integer operations.
6-8
Tile floors are common in many homes and businesses. They are durable, beautiful, and can add value to the home or business but they can also be costly. In this lesson, students will create and estimate the cost of a tile floor design using geometric shapes, ratios, proportions, and percents. All cost estimates are based on the purchase of full boxes of tiles so students have to weigh cost against design considerations. Cost estimates also include labor and taxes for a more realistic estimate of what it costs for a great looking floor.
6-8
In this lesson, a string will be stretched across the classroom and various points will be marked for 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4. This classroom number line will be used to show that all proper fractions are grouped between 0 and 1, and that improper fractions or mixed numbers are all grouped above 1. Students clip index cards with various proper fractions, improper fractions, and mixed numbers on the clothesline to visually see groupings. Students then play an estimation game with groups using the same principle. Encouraging students to look at fractions in various ways will help foster their conceptual fraction sense.
6-8
This problem-solving lesson challenges students to generate election
results using number sense and other mathematical skills. Students are
also given the opportunity to explore the mathematical questions in a
politically challenging context. Calculations can be made using online
or desktop tools or using the data gathered on the Lesson 1 activity
sheet, Why California? Additional resources are introduced to extend
the primary activity.
6-8
The following grades 6-8 activities allow students to explore
statistics surrounding baseball. They are exposed to connections
between various mathematical concepts and see where this mathematics is
used in areas with which they are familiar. This lesson plan is adapted
from the May 1996 edition of
Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School. 6-8
Explore
the mathematics of the electoral college, the system used in this country to
determine the winner in a presidential election.
