Catching a productive meteor shower can be a stunning experience. On the evenings and mornings of August 11th and 12th there is hope of a good show. A three-quarters moon will make the night sky too light to see the…
Updated! In this investigation students calculate the percentage of the U.S. population (current and historically) that are enrolled in K-12 schools. They are asked to draw conclusions from these variations. Finally, they use their calculations to predict the number of…
With the start of summer and wonderful outdoor activities, it might be good to examine the growth of Lyme disease occurrences in the United States. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published maps for all of the…
This Monday Americans will celebrate Memorial Day. Who are we honoring? How did the holiday come about? Isn’t Memorial Day usually on May 30th? Students learn a little about the history of the holiday, analyze the possibilities for when it is…
Saturday, April 22nd is Earth Day There is so much to bring to your classroom to support recycling, conserving resources, studying climate change and protecting our planet. McDonald’s moves toward Antibiotic-free chicken – What will the effects be on costs at the restaurant, costs in…
Green, green river – They’re doing it again. In Chicago, the local plumbers union “dye” the Chicago River emerald green. Students learn what PPM (parts per million) means and attempt to figure out how much dye is used to sufficiently color…
What’s your guess as to how fast the number of daylight hours will change each day from now until June 21st? Will the changes be dramatic? Will the lengthening days be only a subtle change? Students make guesses; compute how…
Conditions will be favorable for excellent views of the Perseids meteor showers in early to mid-August. Let students read charts, analyze data, work with percent of moon visibility at each phase, and understand apparent magnitude in the night sky with…
On Monday, June 20th, at 06:34 pm EST, the Earth’s North Pole will be tilted as far towards the Sun as it will ever be in the year. This marks the longest day of the year and the summer solstice in the…
One winner last night in New Jersey! Now the jackpot is back to ONLY 40 million. The Saturday night Powerball drawing is expected to have a winning Jackpot prize of $415,000,000. Examine compound probability to decide if playing Powerball is worth…
With the start of summer and wonderful outdoor activities, it might be good to examine the growth of Lyme disease occurrences in the United States. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a wonderful map that you can…
This year, the Chicago Bears have created a schedule-predicting contest with the prize being two tickets to all 16 home and away games. Plus air fare and lodging for the road games Plus $500 per road game in walking-around money…
World Cup ranking – Students explore the ranking formulated from each team’s previous 4 years of play in their geographical divisions. The formula is complex and weighted. Is it fair? 5.OA, 5.NBT, 5.NF.B, 6.NS.B, 6.EE, 6.SP, 7.EE, 8.F, 8.SP, HSA World…
This is part II of our reflections on the World Cup games. Part I, World Cup rankings, explained and let students practice with the formula and weighting that is used to establish each country’s team rank. This second activity deals with…
For Saint Patrick’s Day add a little nutrition math to your celebration. In this post we look at calories, carbohydrates, sugars, fats, and proteins to decide what would be left for our day’s meal allotment after we had lunch and…
