Category: Any time math

Will I pay less if I buy more?

In this activity, when you spend more than the three cut-off points you get a greater discount. What amounts should you not spend? Should you spend more to get the greater discount? What does this data look like when graphed?

What does my wreath symbolize?

Students learn about the source of the peace sign. They play with semaphore images to design their own logo. They investigate the number of semaphore signals that could be created with two flags. World peace is promoted.

Consumer Spending 2023

Consumers in the U.S. spend a lot of money. In this activity we look at historical data to see if there are any patterns in our spending.  How does our holiday spending show up in these graphs?  What accounts for spikes or drops in spending? What patterns do you notice?  Which patterns will likely continue and which patterns won’t?

What is a quantum dot?

Students learn about nanotechnology and why it works by looking closely at surface area and its comparison to volume. Hopefully they will begin to understand the incredible possibilities of this science.

Yummy Pumpkin Pie

23 people are coming to my house for pumpkin pie and a hike. How many pies should I make?  How much of each ingredient will I need? What quantities should I buy?  Engage your students in estimation, multiplication of fractions and proportional reasoning.

More Population Pyramids

The population pyramid above shows the distribution of the World by ages and sex for each continent. How can that information help you put your vision of the world in better perspective?

Huge Alaskan Vegetables

The growing season in Alaska is short, but, farmers are able to grow 75 pound cabbages, 100 pound kales, and 1,000 pound pumpkins.  How do they do that? Stnds calculate length of growing seasons and hours of sunlight to approximate how much one of these giants grows per hour. Unbelievable!

Lego Fireman +

Students use our lego measurements to underestimate and over estimate this giant firefighter’s construction time and LEGO block quantity. Then students average their class estimates and compare to the real time and and quantity.

The Moroccan Earthquake and the Richter scale

Friday evening, September 8th, a powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit Morocco southwest of Marrakech.
What does a 6.8 magnitude earthquake mean? How powerful was that? What is a seismometer and a seismograph? What is the amplitude of a seismograph reading? Why did the quake happen in Morocco?

Justin Verlander’s lunch bill

In the 2017 World Series, the Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers and went on to play (and lose to) the Boston Red Sox in the finals.  Evidently the population of Los Angeles held a grudge with the Astro’s…

Jock tax 2023

In this activity students consider the remarkable differences in state taxes that high paid pro athletes have to pay. Students determine how much more money an athlete should be paid in a high tax state in order to offset the taxes.

This shoe is huge!

In this activity student need to use a shoe size chart, patterns or linear modeling to try to figure out what size this shoe must be.  Then they try to estimate how tall this person must have been.