Capture-Recapture

Imagine that a city employee is given the task of counting the number of fish in a city pond in a park. The “capture-recapture” method may be used to approximate the number of fish in the pond. The employee could capture a number of fish, say 20, and tag them and release them back into the pond. Waiting until the fish have a chance to become mixed with the other fish in the pond, the employee can capture more fish. If the number of fish captured is 25 and 4 of them are tagged, we can use proportional reasoning to estimate the number of fish in the pond.

Growth Factors

This short video describes where a growth factor comes from and how to use it for a percent increase.

Directed Distance - An Introduction to "Graph"

This annotated lesson can be used to introduce directed distance and the concept of graph. It can be used as the very first experience students have with graphs, as a review, and/or as an introduction to “circular” coordinates (you can choose to never refer to them as polar coordinates). It is highly interactive and connects the concepts of “new” graphing systems to rectangular coordinates. Initially, there is a brief history given and review of the Cartesian rectangular coordinate system.

Sugar Packets - Dan Meyer Three Act Task

The question is simple: How many sugar packets are in a soda bottle? The lesson hooks students immediately with the initial video clip of a man sitting in a restaurant downing packets of sugar one-after-another! The mathematics involved is proportional reasoning.

Preheating the Oven

Students use rate of change ideas to predict how long it will take for an oven to preheat to 400 degrees. The youtube video may be used to bring drama to the lesson! A link to the video is here and also in the documents. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2ooIWFAcII&list=UUiPlxONW80Z8rGpu3lSLwjg

How Big or How Little?

This activity is designed to have students think about what it means to “keep it in proportion” – a very common phrase, but what does it mean?

Number Sense: Getting a Feel for "BIG" numbers

Good number sense is fundamental for success in estimation, approximation, and problem solving. We need to develop a sense of large numbers because newspaper and television news reports contain many references to large quantities. This activity has students working with large numbers to understand their relative magnitudes.

Now THAT'S Some Gas Mileage!

This activity involves working with percentages and is connected with the ACCR Standards at the sixth and seventh grade levels.

A Motorcycle Transaction

Myles purchases two motorcycles without his mother's permission. She makes him sell them. You will determine if he made a profit or a loss in this buying and selling transaction. Concepts: percent to decimal conversion, finding the percent of a number, and calculating the percent of change.

An AREA Riddle

Knowing the perimeter of a certain rectangle, see if you can figure out what the area of the rectangle might be. Then, discover what happens to the area when the perimeter of the rectangle doubles...

Can We SWIM Yet?

The Johnson family is SO excited to go swimming in their new pool! Which of the three hoses should they use to fill it the most quickly? How long will it take to fill if they use all three of the hoses? 

Sochi Olympics - Junior High Math Contest

This is the 2013 Chandler-Gilbert Community College Junior High Math Contest Team Project. You may use all or just parts of it as it contains lots of different math topics including: The idea of AVERAGE The idea of AVERAGE SPEED and GRAPHS of LINEAR FUNCTIONS The idea of CREATING and INTERPRETING BOX and WHISKER PLOTS  The idea of SLOPE The idea of ANGLE The idea of PERCENT Look at the project and decide what parts your students are ready to tackle...and HAVE FUN!

Mathematics and Advertising

This activity is from the 2011 CGCC Junior High Math Contest Team Project. You may pick and choose which parts of the project to use or use it all! Percent increase/decrease and Area of circles The Counting Principle Pythagorean Theorem and Ratios

Sunsplash

This is a series of activities from the 2007 CGCC Excellence in Math Junior High Contest Team Project.  You can pick and choose which parts of the project you want to use or do them all! Volume and converting of units Circumference and average speed Understanding average speed Readiing and interpreting line graphs Volume of a cylinder and rates

Biking to Bernie's

Fractions and Free Throws

Do we always add fractions by first finding a common denominator, etc.? Or, could it make sense to add two fractions by adding the numerators and denominators? This activity explores these questions.

Nana's Lemonade - Dan Meyer Three Act Task

In a brief video, students are confronted with the situation of a person squeezing a lemon slice into a small cup of water. Then a "big gulp" cup is placed next to the smaller, lemon filled cup. By asking the question, "How many lemon wedges do you need to add for the same lemony taste?" students will begin to experiment and mathematically determine the answer.

What is my portion of the bill?

Earth Day Math

This powerpoint presentation for Earth Day Mathematics Lesson touches on many mathematical concepts such as volume, estimation, mean (average), measurement, and unit conversion. Students work in cooperative groups to find the approximate volume of rubber that a small business has 'rescued' from a local landfill. Alternate application ideas provided.

2015 Excellence in Mathematics Contest

This is the Team Project from the 2015 Junior High Excellence in Mathematics Contest at Chandler-Gilbert Community College. It involves lots of open ended problems from many mathematical areas: Find the weight of a snowman (geometry, proportional reasoning) Find how long it takes ice to form on a lake (rate of change, awkward units) Questions about the amount of mining done in Northern Minnesota (proportional reasoning, conversions) You can use just one part or all parts depending on the audience and the purpose.

Sharing Pencils

Sarah and Michelle are working on a class project using colored pencils. Given some information about the number of pencils that Sarah and Michelle had when they started, and how some sharing of pencils has taken place, students must employ proportional reasoning skills to determine how many colored pencils the girls now possess.

Steeper, Faster, Division, and Slope

What does "steeper" mean? What does "faster" mean? And how do these ideas connect to the idea of linear functions? This 3-part series explores these questions and helps students to understand why we divide when computing slope and what proportional correspondence has to do with it all!

Here Fishy, Fishy!

Yolanda and Zachary each have some fish. Zachary gives Yolanda some of his fish, and now he has twice as many fish as she does. Students must utilize given information and apply proportional reasoning skills in order to figure out how many fish Zach gave Yolanda.

How Many Houses?

Carpenters and apprentices are busy building houses... Students are asked to answer four questions regarding the relationships between the number of workers and how many houses can be built during a specific number of days.

How Many Chickens?

Farmer Frank raises chickens and pigs. Students are asked to use specific given information to determine how many of Farmer Frank's animals are chickens. This problem will require students to persevere as they apply prior knowledge of fractions, ratios, and percents to algebra concepts such as solving a system of equations.

Is Ellen Correct?

This clip was edited for middle school students: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeOLW-NqQt4

Broomsticks - Multiplicative Reasoning

This is the broomsticks activity created by Ted Coe.

Is a Super Ball REALLY Super?

Is a Super Ball REALLY "super?"  This activity allows students to collect data and to make an argument regarding this quetions. See the PowerPoint for details about the activity... Note: It is best to gain access to an authentic, Wham-O Super Ball made with Zectron! https://www.amazon.com/orginal-super-ball-wtih-zectron/dp/B0001ZN49I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1513808409&sr=8-2&keywords=whamo+super+ball

Cat food and Recycling

Tesla Roadster Loan

Tesla Roadster Trip

Ratios & Proportions Unit