Brian has a lot of puzzles. His family must love working on them. What do you wonder about his puzzles? What do you notice? Make an educated guess, about how many pieces are in all of these puzzles? Can you…
Lots of pieces
Tag: estimation
How much snow is that?
Start this activity with: What do you notice? What do you wonder? How many inches of snow produced that pile? How much snow in volume is on top of the car? How much could that snow weigh? Students try to approximate the…
Earth’s perihelion
On Saturday, January 2nd, 2021, Earth will be as close as it gets to the Sun during its orbit. Shouldn’t that make this the warmest time of the year? In this activity students become familiar with the terms perihelion and aphelion as they calculate…
Holiday soda displays
The holidays are coming! We found these timely soda displays made up entirely of 12-pack of Coca-Cola products. What questions do you have? Clicking on either image will show them larger in their own windows. Start out the activity by…
Lots of Cranberries
In this timely activity, students learn about how cranberries are grown and harvested; estimate their size and quantities; and see what they can deduce from published statistics.
Monster cake
First, students need to find the surface area that the M&Ms cover in order to approximate how many M&Ms she needs to finish her cake.
When Brian tried to make the cake, he mistakenly added too much peanut butter. Now all the of ingredients will need to be increased by some percent to insure that the cake maintains appropriate ingredient ratios?
How many gumballs are there?
Thinking, estimating, and calculating! How many gumballs are there? How much would it cost to buy them all? How long would it take me to buy them all?
What will supplies costs this year for going back to school?
Back to school spending is huge and students might not appreciate what it costs to send them back to, essentially, their job of learning. In this activity students decide what equipment and supplies are necessary, estimate how much that will…
Ramen noodle heist
In 2018, the trailer of a truck filled with Ramen noodles was stolen from a parking lot in Georgia. The trailer contents were valued at $98,000. What do you wonder about this? Is this even possible?
Could $98,000 worth of Ramen even fit in a tractor trailer?
Summer Solstice, the longest day
Saturday, June 20th, 2020 Sunrise on summer solstice at Stonehenge On Saturday, June 20th, at 5:44 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…
National Donut Day
Two activities to help celebrate National Donut Day
How many donuts is that = huge box of donuts to approximate.
How have donuts changed = torus volume measurements, formula intuition, and algebraic transformation of one formula into a second formula.
Big beach towel
Since beaches are starting to open again, we thought this activity might bring smiles and hopes. Act One: Check out this beach towel! What do you wonder? What would you like to know? Miami artist, Misael Soto (pictured on the left below),…
How many feet of lights should I buy for my tree?
Check out our Christmas Tree. We need to buy lights for the tree. Without calculating, guess how many feet of lights you will need. What information do you need to better estimate the number of feet of lights that you…
How long will it take you to trick-or-treat?
It’s Halloween and this is your neighborhood. How long will it take you to trick or treat at every house in your neighborhood? Possible conversation with students: How long will it take you to get from house to house? You…
Hurricanes 2019
The official Atlantic hurricane season started on June 1 and doesn’t end until November 30th. Now Hurricane Dorian is approaching the East Coast. Encourage your students to join the conversation, knowledgeably, by using our activity. Students read about hurricane classfications and calculate…