Tag: 7.SP

Powerball, Mega Millions, and probability

Recently the Mega millions’ jackpot was won in Maine at 1.35 billion dollars.  Last year, someone won 2.04 billion dollars in Powerball.   Students examine compound probability and decide whether playing Powerball or Mega millions is worth it.

Median age of country populations

The median age of countries is used to predict the future needs of each country. What are the ramifications of a predominately young population or a predominantly older population,  Why do scientists use the median measurement to study this?

Before the holidays (16 activities)

We have tons (well, 16) of activities to bring to your class in this last week before the holiday break. Movies, science, art, cooking, economics, weather and the logic of calendars. Enjoy!

Participation in Halloween activities

Students analyze the ratios and percents of population, participation, and money spent in honor of October 31st.  This activity takes kids through finding parts of wholes as well as ratio, percents and proportion problems.  

Should I buy a gasoline, hybrid, or electric car

Should you buy a hybrid or an electric car to save money and the planet? Students create equations for finding the break-even points of these vehicles by mileage and years of ownership.  They then work with systems of equations to…

At last, its summer again

How much pee is in this pool? – A Canadian chemist, Xing-Fang Li, has found a marker for urine that chlorine doesn’t disguise. In this activity, students calculate volume of several pools, change that cubic foot volume to gallons of pool water,…

Memorial Day 2022

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 and patterns for when it is celebrated and make observations about the incredible numbers of deaths that have been caused by war.

Olympic Schedule

The Winter Olympics begins this week in Beijing.

Wikipedia had this schedule of events. We think that there is a lot of information missing and apparent in this graphic. What can you tell and what would you like to know?

Veterans Day 2021

Here are two very different maps about where Veterans live in the U.S. and which states have the largest density of Veterans citizens. What do these two maps make you wonder or realize? How can you explain their comparison?

At least the days are getting longer

What’s your guess?  How fast are the number of daylight hours changing each day?  Are the changes dramatic or subtle? Students make guesses; compute how long, on average, the change in daylight hours should be; and finally understand the variability in our year of daylight hours.