The inspiration for this site came from John Allen Paulos' book Innumeracy. …
The inspiration for this site came from John Allen Paulos' book Innumeracy. From it Fawn Nguyen took the mathematical fun facts, etc. and created middle school mathematics critical thinking problems that relate to ratios and proportional reasoning and require students to compare stuff and really get them thinking.
Here's an example: Tortoises have the longest lifespan among vertebrates, about 200 years.
A fruit fly's lifespan is about 45 days. If we scaled both lifespans down so that a tortoise's 200 years is now 1 day, then what is the fruit fly's lifespan, in seconds?
September is a great time for data collection activities as students are …
September is a great time for data collection activities as students are naturally curious about their new classmates. Ask questions that require students to analyze data and support their conclusions.
This task provides a real world context for interpreting and solving exponential …
This task provides a real world context for interpreting and solving exponential equations. There are two solutions provided for part (a). The first solution demonstrates how to deduce the conclusion by thinking in terms of the functions and their rates of change. The second approach illustrates a rigorous algebraic demonstration that the two populations can never be equal.
True love has the right ratio. In this humorous animation, the number …
True love has the right ratio. In this humorous animation, the number of words spoken by each partner predicts whether a date goes well or horribly. What do you do when someone asks if you listen to country music backwards, but won't let you get a word in edgewise?
Students follow the steps of the engineering design process as they design …
Students follow the steps of the engineering design process as they design and construct balloons for aerial surveillance. After their first attempts to create balloons, they are given the associated Estimating Buoyancy lesson to learn about volume, buoyancy and density to help them iterate more successful balloon designs.Applying their newfound knowledge, the young engineers build and test balloons that fly carrying small flip cameras that capture aerial images of their school. Students use the aerial footage to draw maps and estimate areas.
The purpose of this task is to provide students with a multi-step …
The purpose of this task is to provide students with a multi-step problem involving volume and to give them a chance to discuss the difference between exact calculations and their meaning in a context.
This task asks students to use similarity to solve a problem in …
This task asks students to use similarity to solve a problem in a context that will be familiar to many, though most students are accustomed to using intuition rather than geometric reasoning to set up the shot.
In this activity, students construct base-two slide rules that add and subtract …
In this activity, students construct base-two slide rules that add and subtract base-2 exponents (log distances), in order to multiply and divide corresponding powers of two. Students use these slide rules to generate both log and antilog equations, learning to translate one in terms of the other. This is activity C1 in the "Far Out Math" educator's guide. Lessons in the guide include activities in which students measure,compare quantities as orders of magnitude, become familiar with scientific notation, and develop an understanding of exponents and logarithms using examples from NASA's GLAST mission. These are skills needed to understand the very large and very small quantities characteristic of astronomical observations. Note: In 2008, GLAST was renamed Fermi, for the physicist Enrico Fermi.
The purpose of this task is to help students understand what is …
The purpose of this task is to help students understand what is meant by a base and its corresponding height in a triangle and to be able to correctly identify all three base-height pairs.
This task could be put to good use in an instructional sequence …
This task could be put to good use in an instructional sequence designed to develop knowledge related to students' understanding of linear functions in contexts. Though students could work independently on the task, collaboration with peers is more likely to result in the exploration of a range of interpretations.
Every math teacher struggles to find ways to encourage students to master …
Every math teacher struggles to find ways to encourage students to master their basic facts. Whether for addition and subtraction facts or for multiplication and division facts, teachers collect many ideas from which they can draw activities to meet the varied needs of learners in their classes. Games and Who Has? activities are especially motivational and continual play can help students develop fact fluency in an effort to master the games and capture the most points.
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach second …
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach second graders an overview of lines, curves, vertices, and sides of 2d shapes.
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach third …
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach third graders an overview of lines, curves, vertices, and sides of 2d shapes.
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