This lesson unit is intended to help teachers assess how well students are able to solve a real-world modeling problem. There are several correct approaches to the problem, including some that involve proportional relationships.

Students work together in small groups, while competing with other teams, to explore the engineering design process through a tower building challenge. They are given a set of design constraints and then conduct online research to learn basic tower-building concepts. During a two-day process and using only tape and plastic drinking straws, teams design and build the strongest possible structure. They refine their designs, incorporating information learned from testing and competing teams, to create stronger straw towers using fewer resources (fewer straws). They calculate strength-to-weight ratios to determine the winning design.

There is a 40% chance that the lower ⅓ of the of the Cascadia subduction zone will rupture in the next 50 years, generating a large earthquake and ensuing tsunami. In this project, students will work collaboratively to design and test a model of a vertical evacuation structure. They will evaluate the performance of their models and propose further modifications to improve their design. Students will then make a scale drawing and a model to apply math concepts of scale to designing and creating an ideal model of a vertical evacuation structure. Finally, students will present their findings and proposed final design to their peers and an adult audience. The entire process takes about 2 weeks, and was expanded to include more information and activities with earthquake/tsunami prediction and application of scale. The unit is a great fit for standards within Earth Science (specifically plate tectonics and human mitigation) as well as Engineering and Design standards.

Ratios are everywhere around us whether we realize it or not. Understanding and applying ratio concepts is a life skill and job skill that will benefit any learner. The goal for this unit is to provide learners with a working knowledge of ratios that they can apply to their everyday lives, education, or occupation.

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students examine how to use fractions to measure and help conserve freshwater resources.

Engineers design and implement many creative techniques for managing stormwater at its sources in order to improve and restore the hydrology and water quality of developed sites to pre-development conditions. Through the two lessons in this unit, students are introduced to green infrastructure (GI) and low-impact development (LID) technologies, including green roofs and vegetative walls, bioretention or rain gardens, bioswales, planter boxes, permeable pavement, urban tree canopies, rainwater harvesting, downspout disconnection, green streets and alleys, and green parking. Student teams take on the role of stormwater engineers through five associated activities. They first model the water cycle, and then measure transpiration rates and compare native plant species. They investigate the differences in infiltration rates and storage capacities between several types of planting media before designing their own media mixes to meet design criteria. Then they design and test their own pervious pavement mix combinations. In the culminating activity, teams bring together all the concepts as well as many of the materials from the previous activities in order to create and install personal rain gardens. The unit prepares the students and teachers to take on the design and installation of bigger rain garden projects to manage stormwater at their school campuses, homes and communities.

Planning for the future is a difficult task for most. This lesson ask the learner to participate in role-play and to assume the role of someone who has just graduated and accepted a job and to develop a budget where the goal is to save for a vacation to be taken in a year’s time. The role that the learner is asked to assume is Madison. The name was chosen specifically because it is a unisex name. The character, Madison, has just graduated, but the story intentionally does not reveal the credential that was achieved. The learner is asked to develop a budget with the salary and withheld taxes already established. For learners living in a rural area, the salary may seem high for a recent graduate, but for a learner from an urban area, the salary may seem low. Along with assuming this identity comes the tasks of making decisions for him/her. The actual math problems have definitive answers which are provided for the instructor, but the decisions enable the learner to develop a unique budget. Unit rate is used to help the learner visualize the decisions that are made on a daily basis that may impact savings. Problems included ask the learner to make decisions about housing, transportation, health, and spending. The variety of problems enable the learner to compute unit rates and understand how quantities can be measured in different units. The instructor is a facilitator only, examples of calculations are included in the materials for guidance.

This is the first and most basic problem in a series of seven problems, all set in the context of a classroom election. Every problem requires students to understand what ratios are and apply them in a context. The problems build in complexity and can be used to highlight the multiple ways that one can reason about a context involving ratios.

This is the second in a series of tasks that are set in the context of a classroom election. It requires students to understand what ratios are and apply them in a context. The simple version of this question just asked how many votes each gets. This has the extra step of asking for the difference between the votes.

This problem, the third in a series of tasks set in the context of a class election, is more than just a problem of computing the number of votes each person receives. In fact, that isnŐt enough information to solve the problem. One must know how many votes it takes to make one half of the total number of votes. Although the numbers are easy to work with, there are enough steps and enough things to keep track of to lift the problem above routine.

This is the fourth in a series of tasks about ratios set in the context of a classroom election. What makes this problem interesting is that the number of voters is not given. This information isnŐt necessary, but at first glance some students may believe it is.

Students learn about the definition of heat as a form of energy and how it exists in everyday life. They learn about the three types of heat transfer conduction, convection and radiation as well as the connection between heat and insulation. Their learning is aided by teacher-led class demonstrations on thermal energy and conduction. A PowerPoint® presentation and quiz are provided. This prepares students for the associated activity in which they experiment with and measure what they learned in the lesson by designing and testing insulated bottles.

Students will use ratio analysis with lift versus to help design the best aircraft possible.

Students will analyze ratios and use proportions to solve problems using a cooperative, kinesthetic activity in which they will create “human ratios.” Students will use ratios to compare two quantities, then solve problems cooperatively by demonstrating how proportions are written to show equivalent ratios.
سيقوم الطلاب بتحليل النسب وسيستخدمون النسب لحل المسائل بواسطة نشاط تعاوني وحركي والذي فيه سينشئون "نسبًا بشرية". سيستخدم الطلاب النسب للمقارنة بين قيمتين، وسيحلون المسائل بالتعاون معًا عن طريق توضيح كيف تُكتب النسب لتظهر نسبًا مكافئة.