A PBL project I did in my HS physics and math classes to allow students voice & choice in the design of a maker space my school was building. It followed the Buck Institute model and allowed students to prove mastery in a varitey of learning targets per topics in both courses (probability, geometry, functions, algebra, and trig in geometry and force, energy, electricity & magnetism, etc. in physics). Please feel free to remix this project to suit your own needs.

A PBL project I did in my HS physics and math classes to allow students voice & choice in the design of a maker space my school was building. It followed the Buck Institute model and allowed students to prove mastery in a varitey of learning targets per topics in both courses (probability, geometry, functions, algebra, and trig in geometry and force, energy, electricity & magnetism, etc. in physics). Please feel free to remix this project to suit your own needs.

This instructional task gives students a hands-on experience with composing and decomposing geometric figures.

In this problem-based learning module, students will work collaboratively to improve the accessibility or safety of their school or community. For example, students could identify that accessibility ramps need to be added to the school property or additional sidewalks need to be created/repaired to increase the safety of students as they walk to school. Students would work together to create models of these improvements and create a communications plan that informs the stakeholders of the materials needed to create these improvements (i.e. using volume to determine the amount of concrete, using angles to determine measurements for ramps, etc..).

This is a three-credit course which covers topics that enhance the students’ problem solving abilities, knowledge of the basic principles of probability/statistics, and guides students to master critical thinking/logic skills, geometric principles, personal finance skills. This course requires that students apply their knowledge to real-world problems. A TI-84 or comparable calculator is required. The course has four main units: Thinking Algebraically, Thinking Logically and Geometrically, Thinking Statistically, and Making Connections. This course is paired with a course in MyOpenMath which contains the instructor materials (including answer keys) and online homework system with immediate feedback. All course materials are licensed by CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.

This sections has two activities, a 2D and 3D activity. Students will explore area in a real-life situation in the 2D project. They will also learn how to calculate a prospective budget proposal for a paint project, and how to write up a formal proposal email. Students will explore surface area and volume in the 3D project. They will be able to create a 3D object in TinkerCad and determine the amount of material needed to create that object.

Getting Started

Type of Unit: Introduction

Prior Knowledge

Students should be able to:

Solve and write numerical equations for whole number addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems.
Use parentheses to evaluate numerical expressions.
Identify and use the properties of operations.

Lesson Flow

In this unit, students are introduced to the rituals and routines that build a successful classroom math community and they are introduced to the basic features of the digital course that they will use throughout the year.

An introductory card sort activity matches students with their partner for the week. Then over the course of the week, students learn about the lesson routines: Opening, Work Time, Ways of Thinking, Apply the Learning, Summary of the Math, and Reflection. Students learn how to present their work to the class, the importance of taking responsibility for their own learning, and how to effectively participate in the classroom math community.

Students then work on Gallery problems to further explore the program’s technology resources and tools and learn how to organize their work.

The mathematical work of the unit focuses on numerical expressions, including card sort activities in which students identify equivalent expressions and match an expression card to a word card that describes its meaning. Students use the properties of operations to identify equivalent expressions and to find unknown values in equations.

Constructions and Angles

Unit Overview

Type of Unit: Concept

Prior Knowledge

Students should be able to:

Use a protractor and ruler.
Identify different types of triangles and quadrilaterals and their characteristics.

Lesson Flow

After an initial exploratory lesson involving a paper folding activity that gets students thinking in general about angles and figures in a context, the unit is divided into two concept development sections. The first section focuses on types of angles—adjacent, supplementary, complementary, and vertical—and how they are manifested in quadrilaterals. The second section looks at triangles and their properties, including the angle sum, and how this affects other figures.

In the first set of conceptual lessons, students explore different types of angles and where the types of angles appear in quadrilaterals. Students fold paper and observe the angles formed, draw given angles, and explore interactive sketches that test many cases. Students use a protractor and ruler to draw parallelograms with given properties. They explore sketches of parallelograms with specific properties, such as perpendicular diagonals. After concluding the investigation of the angle types, students move on to the next set.

In the second set of conceptual development lessons, students focus on triangles. Students again fold paper to create figures and certain angles, such as complementary angles.

Students draw, using a protractor and ruler, other triangles with given properties. Students then explore triangles with certain known and unknown elements, such as the number of given sides and angles. This process starts with paper folding and drawing and continues with exploration of interactive sketches. Students draw conclusions about which cases allow 0, 1, 2, or an infinite number of triangles. In the course of the exploration, students discover that the sum of the measure of the interior angles of a triangle is 180°. They also learn that the sum of the measures of the interior angles of a quadrilateral is 360°. They explore other polygons to find their angle sum and determine if there is a relationship to angle sum of triangles. The exploration concludes with finding the measure of the interior angles of regular polygons and speculating about how this relates to a circle.

Lastly, students solve equations to find unknown angle measures. Using their previous experience, students find the remaining angle measures in a parallelogram when only one angle measure is given. Students also play a game similar to 20 Questions to identify types of triangles and quadrilaterals. Having completed the remaining lessons, students have a four-day Gallery to explore a variety of problems.

The unit ends with a unit assessment.

Getting Started

Type of Unit: Introduction

Prior Knowledge

Students should be able to:

Understand ratio concepts and use ratios.
Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world problems.
Identify and use the multiplication property of equality.

Lesson Flow

This unit introduces students to the routines that build a successful classroom math community, and it introduces the basic features of the digital course that students will use throughout the year.

An introductory card sort activity matches students with their partner for the week. Then over the course of the week, students learn about the routines of Opening, Work Time, Ways of Thinking, Apply the Learning (some lessons), Summary of the Math, Reflection, and Exercises. Students learn how to present their work to the class, the importance of students’ taking responsibility for their own learning, and how to effectively participate in the classroom math community.

Students then work on Gallery problems, to further explore the resources and tools and to learn how to organize their work.

The mathematical work of the unit focuses on ratios and rates, including card sort activities in which students identify equivalent ratios and match different representations of an equivalent ratio. Students use the multiplication property of equality to justify solutions to real-world ratio problems.

Zooming In On Figures

Unit Overview

Type of Unit: Concept; Project

Length of Unit: 18 days and 5 days for project

Prior Knowledge

Students should be able to:

Find the area of triangles and special quadrilaterals.
Use nets composed of triangles and rectangles in order to find the surface area of solids.
Find the volume of right rectangular prisms.
Solve proportions.

Lesson Flow

After an initial exploratory lesson that gets students thinking in general about geometry and its application in real-world contexts, the unit is divided into two concept development sections: the first focuses on two-dimensional (2-D) figures and measures, and the second looks at three-dimensional (3-D) figures and measures.
The first set of conceptual lessons looks at 2-D figures and area and length calculations. Students explore finding the area of polygons by deconstructing them into known figures. This exploration will lead to looking at regular polygons and deriving a general formula. The general formula for polygons leads to the formula for the area of a circle. Students will also investigate the ratio of circumference to diameter ( pi ). All of this will be applied toward looking at scale and the way that length and area are affected. All the lessons noted above will feature examples of real-world contexts.
The second set of conceptual development lessons focuses on 3-D figures and surface area and volume calculations. Students will revisit nets to arrive at a general formula for finding the surface area of any right prism. Students will extend their knowledge of area of polygons to surface area calculations as well as a general formula for the volume of any right prism. Students will explore the 3-D surface that results from a plane slicing through a rectangular prism or pyramid. Students will also explore 3-D figures composed of cubes, finding the surface area and volume by looking at 3-D views.
The unit ends with a unit examination and project presentations.

This book is an exploration of the world of mathematics that many high school and college students have never encountered. Little algebra is necessary for the topics in this textbook: set theory, financial math, statistics, conversion, and geometry. These topics were chosen by their clear applications to everyday life and their thought-provoking exercises. This book will provide glimpses into ways of thinking mathematically while highlighting algorithmic, graphical, algebraic, statistical, and analytic approaches to solving problems.

Includes work from:
"Math in Society" by David Lippman is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
"Understanding Taxes: Teacher" by Internal Revenue Service is in the Public Domain
"Fundamentals of Mathematics" by Denny Burzynski and Wade Ellis, Jr. is licensed under CC BY 4.0

This resource provides a variety of information and activities that teachers may like to use with their students to explore the Islamic Middle East collections at the V&A. It can be used to support learning in Maths and Art. Included in this resource are sections on:

Principles of Islamic art and design
Pre-visit activities
Activities to do in the museum
Activities to do back at school
Islamic art explores the geometric systems that depend upon the regular division of the circle and the study of Islamic art increases appreciation and understanding of geometry. The use of these geometric systems creates a harmony among Islamic decorative arts and architecture, which is consistent with the Islamic belief that all creation is harmoniously interrelated.

Approaching an abstract subject in a concrete way provides a means of extending maths into other curriculum areas. The context of the Museum expands and enriches students' appreciation of the application of geometry in a cultural context and develops the sense of different cultural identities. Students have the opportunity to become familiar with the relationship between geometry and design and this can give confidence to students who have never seen themselves as 'good at art'.

A free web based math / scientific calculator specially designed for the education environment. It operates in a very similar way to the popular school calculators and so does not need re-learning. The calculator can be blown up to full screen size, making it a useful teaching tool in a classroom setting with a projector. Functions: sin, cos, tan, sin-1, cos-1,tan-1 square root, log10, loge, power of ten, squared, ex Constants: pi, e, root 2 This resource is a component of the Math Open Reference Interactive Geometry textbook project at http://www.mathopenref.com.

This lesson unit is intended to help you assess how well students are able to: Interpret a situation and represent the variables mathematically; select appropriate mathematical methods to use; explore the effects on the area of a rectangle of systematically varying the dimensions whilst keeping the perimeter constant; interpret and evaluate the data generated and identify the optimum case; and communicate their reasoning clearly.

This goal of this task is to give students familiarity using the formula for the area of a circle while also addressing measurement error.

CK-12 Foundation's Middle School Math € Grade 6 Flexbook covers the fundamentals of fractions, decimals, and geometry. Also explored are units of measurement, graphing concepts, and strategies for utilizing the book's content in practical situations.

Provides teaching tips, information on common errors, differentiated instruction, enrichment, and problem solving for teachers to use with the CK-12 Middle School Math - Grade 6, Student Edition.

A work in progress, CK-12's Math 7 explores foundational math concepts that will prepare students for Algebra and more advanced subjects. Material includes decimals, fractions, exponents, integers, percents, inequalities, and some basic geometry.