Brian’s son buys chocolate milk every few days to go with his lunch. His school creates an invoice that they send to parents every month that show the status of his milk account. Brian put $20.00 into this account to…
Who’s going back to school? – Students calculate the historical changes in U.S. population percentages of people who are going back to school and try to formulate reasons for these variations. 6.EE, 6.RP.3, 6.SP, 7.EE, 7.RP.3, 7.SP Does it pay to get…
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…
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…
Act One: Check out the video slide show. What questions do you have? The Activity: Stacking Jack Suggested Question: How many different ways can I stack Jack? That is, how many different color arrangements are there? If I wanted to take…
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…
Brian went to Crete and took a picture of this sign. What do you suppose he’s going to ask next? Yep. “How much will 6 loungers and 2 umbrellas cost?” And more … Systems begin. rent-beach-stuff.pdf
Math doesn’t usually create a buzz on Twitter. This past week this post did just that. People argued online about whether the answer was 16 or 1 and proceeded to insult each other’s intelligence in doing so. Use our write-up…
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…
There is some beautiful land in Utah that was changed last year from federally protected land to Utah overseen land. The buttes of Bears Ears (shown above) and the surrounding territory contain over 100,000 archaeological sites and are sacred land…
If you have a set of cubes for your classroom, this would make a great group hands-on project. Its an old puzzle but the activity deserves a revisit. Below are two straight-on images of my stack of blocks. Can you…
We recently watched the approach of Hurricane Barry and worried about the fate of Louisiana. After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, what would another powerful hurricane do to this fragile state? What is it about Louisiana that causes so much…
All the ice cream that you can eat for only 10 cents! Wow, that’s a great deal! How great a deal was that? The history of the Dairy Queen franchise began with this ad in Illinois in 1938. I know…
Worldwide Nike supports many teams and athletes. They design, manufacture, and supply gear for almost every sport imaginable. How much are those give-aways worth? Is the company going to go broke? Probably not. Nike is huge. In this activity we…
After a July 4th 6.4 magnitude earthquake, California experienced 7.1 magnitude quake two days later. Many more quakes and aftershocks are expected. The IRIS (Incorporated Research Institute of Seismology) Seismic Monitor will allow your class to visualize the most recent quakes and their…
