Gonzaga just won the finals of this year’s March Madness tournament. Still, which NCAA teams have had the best basketball programs over the years. Students decide which stats count towards the “Greatest March Madness Program”. Once students decide their “best program ever,” challenge them use a different criteria than they originally used.
Engage your students in percents as they get excited about March Madness. Is getting a higher seed really an advantage? Use 30 years of data to help determine for which seeds it makes sense to pick an upset. Finally, students determine a general strategy for picking games in the first round.
I checked my data usage for the month. What do you notice and wonder? What could my data plan be? How much have I used? How much will I have used by the end of the month? Is this…
A comparison of gasoline in Greece, priced at Euros per liter, and gas in Massachusetts at dollars per gallon. Price and liquid volume conversion using unit fractions.
Students consider how to determine the best candy haul prediction. The math ideas of measurement error and percent error are introduced. Students then predict their own Halloween candy collections numbers and compare their predictions to their actual haul using measurement and percent error.
Let your students marvel at World Record winning giant pumpkins as they use proportions to calculate the quantities of pumpkin puree and the number of pumpkin pies that could be made from one of these giants. To introduce the task…
Revised! We’re watching another Stanley Cup playoff now. Will there be any really long games during the playoffs? In 2013, a Stanley Cup playoff match between the Bruins and Blackhawks went into 3 overtimes. People stayed up way too late…
The President’s have only received a pay increase 5 times in the United States. Picture it with a step graph. Calculate the actual salary using the CPI (Consumer Price Index). Do the Presidents need a raise?
Which should we order and why? Two 12-inch pizzas or one 18-inch pizza? Which will give you more pizza? More crust? Which is the better deal? Let’s do the math! The activity: more-pizza.pdf
552-carat diamond found in Diavik Mine, Northwest Territories, Canada Can you tell just how big this gem is? Do you know how big a carat is? What would this look like on a ring on your finger?
How much water is used? How much water could be saved? The activity: PottyTime-SavingWater.pdf CCSS: 5.MD.1, 5.NBT.7, 6.RP.3, 7.RP.3, MP2
Let your students decide if the BIG one is a fair deal. Click on the pic to enlarge and post on the wall. Have kids pick a sandwich. Which size will they get? Which size offers the most value? Make…
Listen to students initial thoughts as they wrestle through what “bigger” means … length? height? wheel-base? volume?
At about 10:00 am, April 15th, April’s calf was born. Everyone will be talking about it and smiling constantly. Here’s some fun math stuff to bring with you for Holiday gatherings. The activity: April’s-calf.pdf
Willow weighed 125 pounds at birth and was 6 feet 1 inch tall. She will grow to her adult height of around 14 feet tall in only four years! How big would you be if you grew at her rate…