Graphic from http://lagoon-inside.com.
You have probably heard about major storms hitting Hawaii and the Carolinas. Now is the season for increased cyclonic activity around the globe. How is it measured? Are storms becoming more intense? Did you know there is a formula for measuring the strength of storms and storm seasons? Let's see if this formula for measuring intensity of storms make sense?
The activity: typhoons-hurricanes-cyclones.pdf
4th down - It's 4th down. Should you go for it? Punt? Kick a field goal? Instead of using your gut, use research, data and math to make the right call . 7.NS.1 , 7.NS.2 , 7.NS.3 , 7.SP.C.7 , HSS.MD.A.2 , HSS.MD.B.5 , HSS.MD.B.6 , HSS.MD.B.7
Home team advantage - In this activity students use an infographic to compare NFL team
home and away wins. Students consider the best home team, the best away team and consider if NFL teams really do seem to have a home field advantage. 6.RP.1, 6.RP.2, 6.RP.3, 7.SP.4
Watson saves - Benjamin Watson stopped a touchdown in the last instant of a game by running diagonally across the entire field. How far did he run? Teddy Braschi said that he must have run 120 yards. Did he? Pythagorean Theorem or scale. 8.G.7, G-SRT.8
Extra point or 2-point conversion? - The NFL changed the extra point kick distance to 33 yards and now teams have a tough decision to make, go for one or two points? The one point extra point is no longer a given with a success rate of about 94%. Teams can go for two by trying to get the ball in the end zone from the two yard line. Teams have been successful at two-point conversions in the past about 50% of the time and 53% of the time after the first two weeks of the NFL season. So we ask students, which does it make more sense to do? 7.SP.6, 7.SP.7, HSS.MD.B.5, HSS.MD.B.6, HSS.MD.B.7
Thursday, September 22nd of this year will be the Autumnal Equinox. It is the time of year when the imaginary plane that might pass through the Earth's Equator would also travel through the center of the Sun. At this auspicious moment the number of sunlight hours and night time hours are about the same all over the Earth. In the Northern Hemisphere we move into the Fall season.
We love the seasons and Ecliptic animation from the Magic of Physics site. Below is a screen shot of the applet. By clicking on the link, a new window will open and students, or the teacher using a projector, can change the position of the person on the globe and other variables to enjoy a discussion of this auspicious moment.
Seasons_and_Ecliptic_Simulator
Click on this image to go to the Magic of Physics Ecliptic and Seasons Simulator
Updated!
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Why should students do well in school, graduate high school, or go on to college? In this activity median earnings by various education levels are explored. Students compare the earnings of a non-high school grad with workers who graduated high school and went on to complete higher education degrees. Hopefully, after completing this lesson, students will have a little more motivation to do well this school year and in the future.
Talk like a pirate day is September 19th.
Bring some humor and marketing understanding into your class with this activity about a silly holiday that has had viral growth.
What happens when you tell 5 people and then each of those people tell 5 more people ... ?
If you share this post with one of our Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, or in any way, maybe we can make it go viral.
The activity: Talk-like-a-pirate-day.pdf
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The official Atlantic hurricane season started on June 1 and doesn’t end until November 30th. Now Hurricane Florence is approaching North and South Carolina.
Encourage your students to join the conversation, knowledgeably, by using our activity. Students read about hurricane classfications and calculate the possible increases in destruction from various scaled events. Estimation, data analysis with graphs to study trends, damage expense, average frequency, and histogram are all part of this lesson.