3-5
Students explore ways of building different basic shapes from triangles. They also investigate the basic properties of triangles, as well as relationships among other basic geometric shapes.
3-5
Students explore the importance of the side lengths of a triangle and when triangles can or cannot be constructed on the basis of these lengths.
3-5, 6-8
Students identify patterns in a geometrical figure (based on triangles) and build a foundation for the understanding of fractals.
6-8, 9-12
This lesson can be used for students to discover the relationship between dimension and volume. Students create two rectangular prisms and two cylinders to determine which holds more popcorn. Students then justify their observation by analyzing the formulas and identifying the dimension(s) with the largest impact on the volume.
9-12
In this lesson, students explore polynomials by solving puzzlers. To solve the puzzlers, students factor polynomials and multiply monomials and binomials. The lesson includes ideas on how this format can be applied to other mathematical concepts.
6-8
Students use equations to determine eBay profit on new technology. EBay is an online auction agency. For a limited time after a “new” product’s street release date, it is possible to track the profit that sellers make for auctioning them on eBay. Students use previous data of selling prices to derive a linear equation for the “closing bid price” on a product.
9-12
This lesson helps students clarify the relationship between the shape of a graph and the movement of an object. Students explore their own movement and plot it onto a displacement vs. time graph. From this original graph, students create a velocity vs. time graph, and from there create an acceleration vs. time graph. The movement present and how to interpret each type of graph is emphasized through the lesson, which serve as an excellent introduction to building blocks of calculus.
3-5, 6-8
The rules of Krypto are amazingly simple — combine five numbers using
the standard arithmetic operations to create a target number. Finding a
solution to one of the more than 3 million possible combinations can be
quite a challenge, but students love it. And you’ll love that the game
helps to develop number sense, computational skill, and an
understanding of the order of operations.
6-8
We are bombarded in the media with ads offering 0% interest or teaser rates of 2.9%. These ads are devised to entice us to sign up for these limited time offers that the companies tell us would be crazy to miss. The goal of these ads is to get us to use credit to buy on impulse. If we take the time to analyze the offer, we might realize that if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. In this lesson, students will work through a credit card scenario with a teaser rate, minimum payments, fees, and rate increases for being late.
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.
