Mathematics Lessons & Problems
Updated: April 8, 2002
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Baseball & Geometry - Grades 5-6 - This 2-week unit sends students out to measure the nearest baseball field. Armed with their measurements, students must then use their mathematics skills to map out the field and create a scale model of the field, complete with all the necessary measurements. This lesson won a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching. |
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Can and Bottle Drive - Grades 1-5 - This unit asks students to organize a can and bottle drive in their school. The fun begins when the collecting ends and students must count the cans, formulate problems based on their data, and record the results in their journals. There are enough ideas here for a number of different lessons or a unit of significant length. This lesson won a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching. |
Columbia Education Center Math Lessons - These are collections of mathematics lesson plans from the Columbia Education Center, Portland, Oregon. They are grouped by grade level, with very brief descriptions for each plan. Most plans were submitted by teachers from the Pacific Northwest. There are three collections: Elementary Plans, Middle School Plans, and High School Plans.
CRPC GirlTECH, The Center for Research on Parallel Computing, Rice University, a National Science Foundation Center - Science, math, computer: middle and high school - This site provides lesson plans, some which use Internet resources, to get girls interested in computers, science, and math. Dozens of lesson plans, some integrated with other subjects, are available, designed to be engaging and easy to use.
Cut the Knot Math Resources - Grades 6-12 - This site offers a large collection of logic problems, conundrums, and java-based math puzzles and simulations. They range from fairly simple to quite difficult. There are lots of illustrations of mathematical concepts here, as well as mind-stretchers for students who need an additional challenge.
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The Egyptian Number Project - Grades 9-10 - Here's a lesson on the Egyptian number system and hieroglyphics. Students use the Web to learn how the Egyptians contributed to the development of our own mathematical system. Complete with reproducible worksheets, this lesson was a winner in the 1998 TeachersFirst lesson plans contest. |
Explorer Math Lesson Plans - K-12 - This is an extensive collection of mathematics lessons compiled by the Great Lakes Collaborative and the University of Kansas. The site offers a highly detailed outline of mathematics concepts, and it provides a selection of different lessons for each concept. All lessons are available as Adobe Acrobat PDF files which can be downloaded and printed on your printer. To get the Adobe Acrobat plug-in for your browser, head for the TeachersFirst Toolbox.
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Explorers of the Hundred's Chart - Grade 2 - This lesson introduces primary-level students to the hundreds chart, then lets students apply the concepts of grouping tens and hundreds into the study of explorers. Students apply the concepts to maps and grids, assigning numerical values to distances and map locations. This lesson won a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching. |
A Fractals Unit for Elementary and Middle School Students - Grades 4-8 - Cynthia Lanius, Rice University Math Teacher - This site contains lesson plans centered around Internet researching. It can be used for cross-curricular work in Math, Art, Writing, and History. Fractals use Arithmetic and Geometry also. There are print versions of lesson plans available for classroom use. Very colorful and well designed. User friendly and has seven different awards for math and academic excellence.
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Fraction Strips - Grade 6 - This lesson uses paper strips as a manipulative to help students understand the properties of fractions and the ways in which fractional amounts relate to one another. The strips help students understand lowest common denominators and other concepts related to fractions. This lesson won a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching. |
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Healthy Hearts and Bodies - Grades 6 and up - This lesson teaches students the importance of healthy habits as a way to keep their hearts healthy. Students collect data on their own heart rates, both at rest and immediately after exercising, then create scatter plots of the data they have collected. This lesson won a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching. |
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How Much is a Million? - Grades 4-5 - Here's a lesson that helps students comprehend just how large a million is. Divided into groups, students work with items such as paper clips, words, pennies, birdseed to compute the size, weight, length, or volume of a million items. How long would a string of a million paper clips be, anyway? This lesson won a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching. |
Interactivate - Here's a privately published site which provides supplementary exercises, lessons, and demonstrations based on leading mathematics texts and sorted by publisher. This approach makes is especially easy to find web-based materials that link to the material you're using in class. The menu of activities varies widely depending on the text selected, so you may want to take a look at several of the options.
Math Dork - Grades 6-10 - Here's a collection of interactive Algebra I lessons from someone who knows how middle schoolers think. The presentation is, well, dorky - but the concepts are clearly illustrated in a way that will help students remember them. The site could be useful for students who want to work independently, or who simply need some additional repetition of concepts. Requires Flash player.
Math in the Real World - Grades 4-12 - This is a lesson collection updated periodically by the Futures Channel. The focus is on "real world" situations, each of which can spawn a series of interrelated lessons. In addition, there are links to related lessons, sample teaching strategies and other activities designed to make math instruction more engaging. Updated regularly.
Math in the Neighborhood - Grades 3-6 - The PBS Mathline project offers a constantly changing selection of math problems and ideas based on "real world" experiences like a walk in the park. These math "brainstorms" provide a lot of ideas in a simple format. One of many such offerings at this site.
Mathematics and Gifted Students - Teachers - This ERIC Digest - released 2/01 presents a summary of the issues and strategies involved in teaching mathematically gifted students in a mixed-ability classroom. In addition to research summaries, the digest highlights practices and strategies that have proven successful in these situations.
iMath Demonstrations - Grades K-12 - The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has put together this collection of interactive math illustrations and demonstrations as part of their Illuminations site. Grouped by grade level, they include both QuickTime movie clips and Java applets that illustrate principles such as probability and regression. You'll need a 4.x or better browser for the applets and a network connection will make the movie clips more effective.
Learning Units from the National Security Agency - From an unlikely source - America's codebreakers - comes this collection of very thorough lesson plans dealing with mathematics concepts for elementary, middle school, and high school students. These lessons are all Adobe Acrobat files written by teachers, not cryptographers. Each of the three sections is subdivided into age-appropriate thematic areas, and the lessons include student activities, standards correlations, and evaluation rubrics. This one's well worth a look. If you need the Adobe Acrobat reader, it's available from the TeachersFirst Toolbox.
Lemonade Stand - Grades 4-8 - This is the WWW version of the popular game. It’s a wonderful game that requires math, logic and business skills. For those without access to the disc version of this game, this is a good alternative. There is also a link to other games. Worthwhile site for older elementary and middle school students. This site was developed by Jason Mayans.
Math Lesson Plans Collection - K-12 lessons from the University of Illinois. This is a large collection of plans, with detailed instructions. It provides online lessons for students and teachers. Can be used to reinforce material. A search engine takes you to the math topic you desire. It also has a tutorial of specific math problems.
Mathematics Answer Menu - Grades 9-12 - This is a set of Java-enhanced math problems designed as review information for Great Britain's standardized exams. The problems cover topics ranging from introductory algebra through advanced probability, geometry, and other topics. Answer keys are also provided. These problems could easily be used for any math review application, including SAT I or ACT tests.
Math lessons by grade & competency - from North Carolina State Education Department. Grades K-12 includes math resources and competencies for each grade. Click on " Instructional Resources" found under "Educator's Resource Center" for actual lesson plans. Clearly indexed, and with lots of resources.
Math Grade 7 - from the California Framework Standards, and the NCTM Standards. Includes links, and interactive lessons for 7th grade. This site could be used at home as a supplement or during class as enrichment.
Math Grade 8 - from the California Framework Standards, and the NCTM Standards includes links, and interactive lessons for grade 8. This site could be used at home as a supplement or during class as enrichment.
MathMagic An e-mail team competition from Swarthmore's math center. The site posts weekly challenges in four categories; (K-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12). Its goal is to increase problem-solving strategies and computer skills. Registered teams collaborate electronically with other classrooms and engage in a problem-solving dialog. One solution is posted per pair. Any teacher with access to electronic mail can participate at no cost.
MathDEN has four levels (stages) of problem sets for Grades 7-12. Included are a Teacher's Guide, Hot Math Tips, and a weekly Math Challenge. Very well done; teacher oriented. This site is now password protected. From the opening page, select MathDEN, then enter "guest" (without quotes) as both username and password.
Math/Science Resources - The Center of Excellence for Science and Mathematics Education (CESME) - Grades 9-12. This site includes units using graphing calculators and physical science. All units, including teacher lesson plans and student activity sheets are available as Adobe Acrobat PDF files and can be printed and used in the classroom. You can download the Adobe Acrobat reader from the TeachersFirst Toolbox. Virtual projects are in the process of being developed for this site.
Montpelier Mathematics Portfolio Program – Grade 4 - This site is designed to reinforce problem solving math skills. It has many different problems for solving and help with getting to a conclusion. Kids can use this alone and be able to help themselves. It is easy to use. Lesson plans and classroom activities are available. From Union Elementary School, Montpelier, VT.
Patterns in Mathematics - Teacher Tutorial - This tutorial from the Annenberg Foundation is designed to help teachers interested in working with logical and numerical patterns in mathematics. It includes several animated tutorials which are great for teachers and could also be used by some students. There are also teaching strategies and other instructional ideas. This is an interesting site for mathematics teachers who want a refresher or some new ideas for presenting content.
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Problem Solving with Pattern Blocks - Grades 3-5 - This lesson unit shows students how to assign numerical values to geometric shapes and use the different shapes to create constructions which have specific numerical values. The unit asks students to use pattern blocks to illustrate computational problems, then allows them to create their own structures, noting the final value of each construction. This lesson won a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching. |
Problems in Statistics - keyed to NCTM standards & goals on statistics. K-12 lessons from the University of Illinois.
Public Schools of North Carolina Math Curriculum - Grades 4-8 includes a series of lesson plans to help North Carolina teachers implement the state's Mathematics Curriculum. There is one lesson for each competency goal. Click on "resources" to see the lesson plans.
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Rocket Car Challenge - Grades 5-6 - This unit challenges students to create a balloon-powered "rocket car." Students must then measure the car's performance, distance traveled, etc. The lesson can be used as a stand-alone item, or it can be incorporated into a larger interdisciplinary study of space and propulsion systems. This lesson won a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching. |
SAMI - Science and Math Initiatives includes teacher resources for Math and Science curriculums. Lesson Plans and Projects, Grant Assistance, and Internet Training Resources are included. The sites under Lesson Plans and Projects are described for ease of use.
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Shop 'Til you Drop - Food for Thought - Grades 6-8 - Here's a week-long web project to help middle school home economics and math students understand the real world of grocery pricing and healthy meal-planning. Students can work independently or in teams; the points go to those who figure out how to eat well on a budget. |
SOS Mathematics: Algebra – Grades 6-12 – This site from the University of Texas offers a comprehensive collection of math lessons with clear examples and easy to read text. A terrific site for independent studies or reviews. A must for any algebra student.
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Things that Fly! - Grades 3-5 - This lesson lets students experiment with constructing polygons using pegs and elastic bands. In the process, they can create simple polygon representations of birds, airplanes, and other things that fly, while learning how to identify the properties of the polygons that represent them. This lesson won a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching. |
Titanic! A Mathematics WebQuest - Secondary Math - This webquest, created at Louisiana State University, asks students to collect data on the Titanic passengers and crew from a database, then use spreadsheets and graphs for analysis of the data. There are also links to other Titanic resources. This quest works best if students are already familiar with spreadsheets.
Which Pennies are Still Out There?? - Grades 4-6 - Here's a lesson that invites students to collect, analyze, and report their own data and then compare it with the results from other schools. The question: from which years are there the most pennies in current circulation? Students can create their own theories about which years seem most common, and why.
Go to Elementary Math web resources
Go to Middle & High School Math web resources
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