Looking at transportation and the environment, students learn that some human-made creations, such as vehicles, can harm the environment. They also learn about alternative fuels and vehicles designed by engineers to minimize pollution. The associated hands-on activity gives students a chance to design their own eco-friendly vehicle.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about turning numbers into words within word problems.

This is a set of three, one-page problems about the sizes of moons in the solar system. Learners will use decimals to compare the sizes and distances of Saturn's moons to the center of Saturn. Options are presented so that students may learn about the Cassini mission through a NASA press release or by viewing a NASA eClips video [4 min.] about these and other moons in our solar system. This activity is part of the Space Math multi-media modules that integrate NASA press releases, NASA archival video, and mathematics problems targeted at specific math standards commonly encountered in middle school.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about using the four operations with money - word problems.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about multiplication and division with money.

This task requires students to employ all four operations with decimal numbers in a real-world context. While the mathematical content will provide discourse opportunitites, so will the financial and social content of the task.

This workbook was created through the efforts of three instructors at Scottsdale Community College in Scottsdale, Arizona. Any individual may download and utilize a digital copy of this workbook for free. The Creative Commons licensing of this text allows others to freely use, modify, or remix any of the information presented here.Objectives:Identify the place value of a digit or digits in a given number.Read and write whole numbers.Round whole numbers to a given place.Rewrite an exponential expression in factored form.Compute numerical expressions using exponents.Use correct order of operations to evaluate numerical expressions. Solve whole number applications with a problem-solving process

Students observe a model waterwheel to investigate the transformations of energy involved in turning the blades of a hydro-turbine. Students work as engineers to create model waterwheels while considering resources such as time and materials, in their design. Students also discuss and explore the characteristics of hydropower plants.

Students learn the history of the waterwheel and common uses for water turbines today. They explore kinetic energy by creating their own experimental waterwheel from a two-liter plastic bottle. They investigate the transformations of energy involved in turning the blades of a hydro-turbine into work, and experiment with how weight affects the rotational rate of the waterwheel. Students also discuss and explore the characteristics of hydroelectric plants.

This activity is made up of four different tasks that require students to divide 23 by 5. The different contexts presented in each task requires students to consider when an answer to such a problem should be reported as a whole number with a remainder or a mixed number/decimal. Discussing the varied contexts of these tasks will help students develop a deeper understanding of division as an operation.

When a division problem involving whole numbers does not result in a whole number quotient, it is important for students to be able to decide whether the context requires the result to be reported as a whole number with remainder or a mixed number.

Students build their own simple conductivity tester and explore whether given solid materials and solutions of liquids are good conductors of electricity.

In this activity, students develop an understanding of how engineers use wind to generate electricity. They will build a model anemometer to better understand and measure wind speed.

In this lesson, students will apply their understanding of computation of decimal numbers in order solve real world problems.