In this 5-lesson unit, students engage in measurement activities involving length, area, volume, time, and weight, using objects, pictures and symbols. Students practice measuring using standard and nonstandard units. Some lessons are introduced using children's literature.
In this lesson plan students must interpret data from a pictograph and make predictions based on the data displayed. The lesson plan includes an activity worksheet in PDF format and suggested extension activities.
This 2-lesson unit focuses on combinations, a subject related to probability. Students develop strategies for discovering all the possible combinations in two given situations. They learn to collect and organize data and then use the results to generalize methods for determining possible combinations. They discuss how the number of possible outcomes is affected by decisions about the order of choices, or whether choices may be repeated. The unit includes student activity sheets, questions and extensions for students, and a link to an interactive applet.
Introduces students to basic properties of structural materials and behavior of simple structural elements and systems through a series of experiments. Students learn experimental technique, data collection, reduction and analysis, and presentation of results.
This course describes the evolution and role of urban public transportation modes, systems, and services, focusing on bus and rail. Technological characteristics and their impacts on capacity, service quality, and cost are described. Current practice and new methods for data collection and analysis, performance monitoring, route design, frequency determination, and vehicle and crew scheduling are also discussed. In addition, the effect of pricing policy and service quality on ridership and methods for estimating costs associated with proposed service changes are presented, together with means to improve operations through real time intervention.
In an interactive and game-like manner, students learn about the mechanical advantage that is offered by gears. By virtue of the activity's mechatronics presentation, students learn to study a mechanical system as a dynamic system under their control as opposed to a static image. The system presented is of two motorized racing cars built using the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® robotics platform. The altered variable between the two systems is the gear train; one is geared up for speed and the other is geared down for torque. Students collect and analyze data to reinforce particular aspects and effects of mechanical advantage.
Introduces the concepts, techniques, and devices used to measure engineering properties of materials. Emphasis on measurement of load-deformation characteristics and failure modes of both natural and fabricated materials. Weekly experiments include data collection, data analysis, and interpretation and presentation of results.
Student will conduct a coin tossing experiment for 30 trials. Their results will be graphed, showing a line graph that progresses toward the theoretical probability. Students will observe that as the number of trials increases they begin to see a graphical representation of the Law of Large Numbers. Instructions, handouts, and a lesson extension are all included here.
Vision is the primary sense of many animals and much is known about how vision is processed in the mammalian nervous system. One distinct property of the primary visual cortex is a highly organized pattern of sensitivity to location and orientation of objects in the visual field. But how did we learn this? An important tool is the ability to design experiments to map out the structure and response of a system such as vision. In this activity, students learn about the visual system and then conduct a model experiment to map the visual field response of a Panoptes robot. (In Greek mythology, Argus Panoptes was the "all-seeing" watchman giant with 100 eyes.) A simple activity modification enables a true black box experiment, in which students do not directly observe how the visual system is configured, and must match the input to the output in order to reconstruct the unseen system inside the box.
" This course in crystal structure refinement examines the practical aspects of crystal structure determination from data collection strategies to data reduction and basic and advanced refinement problems of organic and inorganic molecules."
In this 8-lesson unit students use buttons to explore logical and numerical relationships that form the conceptual basis for understanding addition and subtraction operations. Topics include counting, ordinal numbers (and relative position), classification (attributes), relationships between numbers, addition of sets, commutativity of addition, sums to 10, fact families (including subtraction), three models of subtraction ("take away", comparative, missing addend), and bar graphs. Includes student activity sheets and a link to an online graphing applet.
In this lesson, students measure the dimensions of their own fist plus the fists of some other people who are older to approximate the size of each person's heart. Next they use construction paper to make a model of their own heart.
Geographic information systems (GIS), once used predominantly by experts in cartography and computer programming, have become pervasive in everyday business and consumer use. This unit explores GIS in general as a technology about which much more can be learned, and it also explores applications of that technology. Students experience GIS technology through the use of Google Earth on the environmental topic of plastics in the ocean in an area known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The use of this topic in GIS makes the unit multidisciplinary, incorporating the physics of ocean currents, the chemistry associated with pollutant degradation and chemical sorption to organic-rich plastics, and ecological impact to aquatic biota.
Students modify a provided App Inventor code to design their own diseases. This serves as the evolution step in the software/systems design process. The activity is essentially a mini design cycle in which students are challenged to design a solution to the modification, implement and test it using different population patterns The result of this process is an evolution of the original app.
With the assistance of a few teacher demonstrations (online animation, using a radiometer and rubbing hands), students review the concept of heat transfer through convection, conduction and radiation. Then they apply an understanding of these ideas as they use wireless temperature probes to investigate the heating capacity of different materials sand and water under heat lamps (or outside in full sunshine). The experiment models how radiant energy drives convection within the atmosphere and oceans, thus producing winds and weather conditions, while giving students the hands-on opportunity to understand the value of remote-sensing capabilities designed by engineers. Students collect and record temperature data on how fast sand and water heat and cool. Then they create multi-line graphs to display and compare their data, and discuss the need for efficient and reliable engineer-designed tools like wireless sensors in real-world applications.
This activity is a lab intended to help students learn to setup an investigation with worms to learn about experimental design and data collection.
This three lesson unit from Illuminations focuses on connections between mathematics and football with the common theme of the Super Bowl. Students are asked to look at the Super Bowl not just as "the big game" but as an opportunity to apply mathematics to some interesting problems. The activities involve number sense, measurement, statistics, estimations, and problem solving.
In this three-lesson unit students conduct surveys, create graphs, and explore combinations related to pizza toppings. Each lesson plan contains worksheets in PDF format.
In this lesson plan students must create their own method for keeping track of rubber ducks found around the classroom. Students are then given an opportunity to share their data collection strategies and discuss the benefits and drawbacks of each one. The lesson plan is written to make an easy tie in to language arts by incorporting discussion of the words "in" or "on" when discussing the ducks location. PDF documents for cut out rubber ducks, data collection assessment, and answer key are provided.
"This lesson sets the stage for a discussion of travel in the solar system. By considering a real-world, hands-on activity, students develop their understanding of time and distance. Finally, students plot the data they have collected." from NCTM Illuminations.