6-8
In this lesson, students complete a chart by multiplying or dividing a given value, compare two categories in a line graph, and identify number patterns.
6-8
This lesson emphasizes the connections between science and mathematics by using a performance, or authentic, assessment format. Students explore applications involving their own heart. This activity involves students in interpreting factual information in a variety of problem-solving situations. Students also create and solve an original problem.
6-8
Using the story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calveras County" by Mark Twain, students simulate a jumping-frog contest and determine the distances "jumped." The students record the distance of individual jumps in centimeters and determine the total distance jumped (the sum of the three separate jumps) and the official distance (the straight-line distance from the starting line to the end of the frog's third jump). The students compare the range and median of the total distances with those of the official distances of the group.
6-8
Students measure distances using standard and nonstandard units and
record their measurement in various tables. Then they are asked to use
descriptive statistics to report the results. During a top-spinning
contest, students measure the distance along a curve using indirect
measurement. They record the data for their group in a chart, and
compute their individual median and the group median.
6-8
The activities at this level focus on studying a series of circle
graphs that report the population of the United States and of selected
states–Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania–in fifty-year
intervals from 1800 to 1950. The students are asked to discuss and
describe the information and to explain why the percent of the total
population changed for the three states. They are asked to write a
justification for their explanation.
6-8
Students participate in activities in which they focus on connections between mathematics and children's literature. Using
The Phantom Tollbooth as a literature basis, students explore the concept of averages.
6-8
In this lesson, students practice decision-making skills leading to a
better understanding of choice versus chance and building the
foundation of mathematical probability.
6-8
Students play a game in which they try to list 5 countries or states in order from most crowded to least crowded. Using area and population data from a Web site, they estimate quotients to make their list. They determine whose list is closest to the actual order by applying a mathematical model (scoring system), which they later evaluate.
6-8
Students identify and classify polygons according to various
attributes. They then sort the polygons in Venn Diagrams, according to
these attributes. Extensions to fundamental ideas about probability and
statistics are also included. This lesson was adapted from an article
written by Carol G. Williams, which appeared in the March‑April 1998
edition of
Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School.
6-8, 9-12
Students model linear data in a variety of settings that range from car repair costs to sports to medicine. Students work to construct scatterplots, interpret data points and trends, and investigate the notion of line of best fit.
