Here in the Northeast, flowers are blooming and trees are leafing out. We thought the creation of a tree that grows before your eyes might be akin to what is going on all around us. What do you see that…
Tree for Springtime
Tag: 8.F
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.
Summer Solstice, the longest day
Sunday, June 20th, 2021 Sunrise on summer solstice at Stonehenge On Sunday, June 20th, at 11:31 pm EDT, the Earth’s North Pole will be tilted as far towards the Sun as it will ever be in the year. This marks the…
The R-naught number of the coronavirus
We’re still learning about the coronavirus and its ability to and tendencies toward infection and spread. Students learn about the R-naught number which is a measure of infectious growth. Real-world mathematics!
The Forever Roll
Why would anyone need such a big roll of toilet paper? How does it compare to Charmin’s other toilet paper products? If this roll lasts for one month, how big a roll would I need to be able to last for one year?
Eliud Kipchoge runs marathon in 1:59:40.2
How have record marathon runs changed through the years? Will those record times keep being broken? Does the data help you predict?
So just print some more money!
What’s the big deal with our deficit? Do we actually borrow money to cover our debt? If we do, imagine the interest charges? Help your students (and their families) understand the meaning and repercussions…
Really big shoe
Brian and his son were doing some shopping when he found this shoe. Egad! Could that be someone’s real shoe? In this activity student need to use a shoe size chart, patterns or linear modeling to try to figure out…
Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones – ACE measurement
You have probably heard about major storms hitting Hawaii and the Carolinas. Now is the season for increased cyclonic activity around the globe. How is it measured? Are storms becoming more intense? Did you know there is a formula for…
World Cup rankings
In December soccer teams with the strongest world rankings were chosen to play in the once-every-4-years World Cup. The World Cup competition has just begun and will continue through July 15th. The team rankings are calculated in a pretty complex…
Giant iceberg breaks off from Antarctica
The crack in Antarctica’s Larson C ice shelf has been growing for years. Has the speed of the rift’s growth stayed about the same? increased? decreased? Do the math and discuss the implications. The activity: ice-sheet-rift.pdf
How did I graph this heart?
Kilauea’s lava flow
The volcano, Kilauea, on the Big Island of Hawaii, has been active and erupting since 2008. There are two lava flows at present and one is now approaching homes on the Big Island. This is another example of natural events…
Three great World Cup activities
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…
It sure is cold out … or is it?
Students ponder the relationship between place latitudes and average January temperatures while they try to discover a correlation. Is this a linear or near linear relationship? … averaging, missing data for averaging, line of best fit, Google Earth, world locations,…