9-12
In this activity, students will use the Illuminations Line of Best Fit Interactive
to plot the data from two teams during the 2004‑05 NBA season. In
particular, students will look at the data for total points and minutes
played by each of the starters on the Los Angeles Lakers and Detroit
Pistons. The data suggest that Laker Kobe Bryant is an outlier—he
scores more points per minutes than his teammates, which is part of why
some sportswriters have described him as "selfish." But through further
investigation, students will also notice that Piston Ben Wallace is
also an outlier, because he scores fewer points than his teammates.
3-5
In this lesson, students will view several websites and determine what mathematical ideas and concepts are involved in scuba diving. The emphasis is on using technology to help students gain an understanding of how math is used outside of a school setting.
3-5
Students will calculate differences in time zones and explore the effects of traveling across time zones.
3-5
In this lesson, students will use various resources to choose travel dates, compare temperatures, estimate and calculate distances to Belize City, and determine the length of their flight in preparation for a "trip" to Belize.
3-5
In this lesson, students will pretend to travel to the island of Ambergris Caye off the coast of Belize. Students will work together to complete the measurements needed for their scuba diving gear in preparation for the dives, and they will solve elapsed time problems.
3-5
Students will work in pairs on various measurement problems. They will complete linear conversions, find elapsed time, calculate a percentage, and analyze data from a chart.
9-12
Students will use pasta to create models of triangles and non-triangles and investigate the relationship between the longest side of the triangle and the sum of the other two sides of the triangle. In addition, students will measure the sides and angles of a scalene triangle and investigate the relationship between the location of the largest angle and largest side in a triangle.
6-8, 9-12
When one end of a wooden board is placed on a bathroom scale and the
other end is suspended on a textbook, students can "walk the plank" and
record the weight measurement as their distance from the scale changes.
The results are unexpected— the relationship between the weight and
distance is linear, and all lines have the same
x‑intercept. This investigation leads to a real world occurrence of negative slope, examples of which are often hard to find.
6-8
Students explore the relationship between the lengths of the sides and diagonals of a square. Students will use their discoveries to predict the diagonal length of any square.
9-12
Students discover the algorithm for solving linear programming problems and gain conceptual understanding by solving a real-world problem and using graphing calculator applications.
