This activity is a investigation intended to get students and teachers to loosen up a little and appreciate how just considering a situation might lead you to a very reasonable approximation.
Too often students think that there is only one answer that is right and that the method for approaching that solution is also limited to the “correct” approach. Surely this fear of experimenting and guessing leads to math anxieties and the fear to reason and experiment.
Note: This is a remake of our 2014 and 2017 activities “How Much Does a Lego Cost?”. How much could the Roman Colosseum Lego set cost ? Student first make a guess and then think about what information would be…
Do the “Best” movies make the most money? How could you measure the “best” movie? What information would you need to make this judgement? At most ten movies are nominated each year to receive an Oscar for the Best Picture. On Sunday, February…
We’ve gathered some data on movie ratings and their sequels and asked students to analyze the data, decide on some analysis and debate (with their mathematical data) which are better … the original movies or their sequels. Students see what…
Nike has just chosen a surprising person to represent the 30th anniversary of their slogan, “Just Do It”. Colin Kaepernick, past quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, has been a subject of controversy since 2016 when he “took a knee”…
Note: This is a remake of our 2014 “How Much Does a Lego Cost” activity How much could the Lego Millennium Falcon cost? Student first make a guess and then think about what information would be useful in order to…
There have been a lot of polls about who will win the Presidential election. I get so confused when polling results are reported. What is a 95% confidence measure? What’s the margin of error? What is standard deviation? In this…
Take a look at the infographic. What do you see? What do you think? What do you wonder? In this lesson students compare NFL QB rating of quarterbacks with and without facial hair. This task can be used to explore a…
This is a three act task, with an activity guide. Show students the act one video. What questions do they have? How much could the Star Wars kit cost? Follow the activity guide, find costs based on the cost of…
Time to give students some authentic math on a topic they will surely be interested in … Starbucks. We ask and answer a few questions in this activity. About how many drinks does Starbucks sell in a year? If I…