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Algebra

The Devil and Daniel Webster

9-12
Adapted from Navigating through Algebra in Grades 9–12, this lesson allows students to examine a recursive sequence in a game between the Devil and Daniel Webster.
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Measurement

Water, Water

3-5
Students compare the amount of water they use in daily life with the amount allotted for each person each day on a Space Shuttle. Within this context, students estimate and measure the weight of, and amount of space occupied by, a gallon of water. They collect, organize, graph, analyze, and interpret data from their investigations. The activities in this lesson are designed to span 2‑3 class periods.
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Data Analysis and Probability

Explorations with Chance

9-12
In this lesson, students analyze the fairness of certain games by examining the probabilities of the outcomes. The explorations provide opportunities to predict results, play the games, and calculate probabilities. Students should have had prior experiences with simple probability investigations, including flipping coins, drawing items from a set, and making tree diagrams. They should understand that the probability of an event is the ratio of the number of successful outcomes to the number of possible outcomes. This lesson was adapted from "Activities: Explorations with Chance," which appeared in the April 1992 issue of the Mathematics Teacher. 
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Algebra

The Variable Machine

3-5

This lesson provides an introduction to the use of variables, and develops students' algebraic thinking. Students create variable machines to discover the value of words.

This lesson was adapted from a lesson by Gilbert Cuevas and Karol Yeatts, as found in Navigating Through Algebra in Grades 3 ‑ 5, from the Navigations Series, NCTM 2001.

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Algebra

Single Runner

3-5
In this activity, students use a software simulation of one runner along a track. Students control the speed and starting point of the runner, watch the race, examine a graph, and analyze the time-versus-distance relationship. This activity helps students understand, describe, and compare situations involving constant rates of change.
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Algebra

Two Runners

3-5
In this activity, students use a software simulation of two runners along a track. Students control the speed and starting point of the runners, watch the race, examine the graphs, and analyze the time-versus-distance relationships. This activity helps students understand, describe, and compare situations involving constant rates of change.
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Data Analysis and Probability

Pigging Out

3-5
This lesson uses the story of The Three Little Pigs to motivate students to think and reason mathematically in a number of ways. Students develop reasoning skills and identify similarities and differences through the use of Venn Diagram. Spatial reasoning is also emphasized in this lesson.
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Data Analysis and Probability

If the Shoe Fits...

3-5
Students use classification skills to compare and contrast versions of the Cinderella story. Students identify similarities and differences between two versions. In addition, they use attributes to classify and sort information.
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Data Analysis and Probability

Rescue Mission Game

3-5

Students play a game to learn about the four forces of flight: lift, drag, thrust, and weight. Before playing the game, students conduct a probability experiment with spinners and record their results in tally tables and bar graphs. They then use their findings to select spinners with the greatest probability of helping them win the game. In a portion of the game, students use ordered pairs to plot points on the coordinate plane to show their flight path.

This lesson was adapted from Travel in the Solar System in Mission Mathematics II: Grades 3‑5, a NASA/NCTM project, NCTM 1997.

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Data Analysis and Probability

Dealing With Data In the Elementary School

3-5
This project-based unit on statistics furnishes a vehicle for problem solving through real-world data collection and analysis. Students use the mean, mode and median to analyze their data and use graphs to represent their findings.