This lesson unit is intended to help teachers assess how well students are able to interpret exponential and linear functions and in particular to identify and help students who have the following difficulties: translating between descriptive, algebraic and tabular data, and graphical representation of the functions; recognizing how, and why, a quantity changes per unit intervale; and to achieve these goals students work on simple and compound interest problems.

This purpose of this task is to help students see two different ways to look at percentages both as a decrease and an increase of an original amount. In addition, students have to turn a verbal description of several operations into mathematical symbols.

This lesson unit is intended to help assess how well students are able to interpret and use scale drawings to plan a garden layout. This involves using proportional reasoning and metric units.

The purpose of this task is to directly address a common misconception held by many students who are learning to solve equations. Because a frequent strategy for solving an equation with fractions is to multiply both sides by a common denominator (so all the coefficients are integers), students often forget why this is an "allowable" move in an equation and try to apply the same strategy when they see an expression.

This simulation allows you to use a slider to see how positive and negative integers add on a number line.

This lesson unit is intended to help teachers assess how well students are able to understand what the different algebraic forms of a quadratic function reveal about the properties of its graphical representation. In particular, the lesson will help teachers identify and help students who have the following difficulties: understanding how the factored form of the function can identify a graphŐs roots; understanding how the completed square form of the function can identify a graphŐs maximum or minimum point; and understanding how the standard form of the function can identify a graphŐs intercept.

This lesson unit is intended to help teachers assess how well students are able to identify linear and quadratic relationships in a realistic context: the number of tiles of different types that are needed for a range of square tabletops. In particular, this unit aims to identify and help students who have difficulties with: choosing an appropriate, systematic way to collect and organize data; examining the data and looking for patterns; finding invariance and covariance in the numbers of different types of tile; generalizing using numerical, geometrical or algebraic structure; and describing and explaining findings clearly and effectively.

This lesson unit is intended to help you assess how well students working with square numbers are able to: choose an appropriate, systematic way to collect and organize data, examining the data for patterns; describe and explain findings clearly and effectively; generalize using numerical, geometrical, graphical and/or algebraic structure; and explain why certain results are possible/impossible, moving towards a proof.

This resource demonstrates the distributive property through the area of rectangles. You can manipulate the dimension by moving the slider.

This lesson unit is intended to help teahcers assess how well students are able to interpret speed as the slope of a linear graph and translate between the equation of a line and its graphical representation.

This is a booklet containing 37 space science mathematical problems, several of which use authentic science data. The problems involve math skills such as unit conversions, geometry, trigonometry, algebra, graph analysis, vectors, scientific notation, and many others. Learners will use mathematics to explore science topics related to Earth's magnetic field, space weather, the Sun, and other related concepts. This booklet can be found on the Space Math@NASA website.

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.

Putting Math to Work

Type of Unit: Problem Solving

Prior Knowledge

Students should be able to:

Solve problems with rational numbers using all four operations.
Write ratios and rates.
Use a rate table to solve problems.
Write and solve proportions.
Use multiple representations (e.g., tables, graphs, and equations) to display data.
Identify the variables in a problem situation (i.e., dependent and independent variables).
Write formulas to show the relationship between two variables, and use these formulas to solve for a problem situation.
Draw and interpret graphs that show the relationship between two variables.
Describe graphs that show proportional relationships, and use these graphs to make predictions.
Interpret word problems, and organize information.
Graph in all quadrants of the coordinate plane.

Lesson Flow

As a class, students use problem-solving steps to work through a problem about lightning. In the next lesson, they use the same problem-solving steps to solve a similar problem about lightning. The lightning problems use both rational numbers and rates. Students then choose a topic for a math project. Next, they solve two problems about gummy bears using the problem-solving steps. They then have 3 days of Gallery problems to test their problem-solving skills solo or with a partner. Encourage students to work on at least one problem individually so they can better prepare for a testing situation. The unit ends with project presentations and a short unit test.

Rate

Type of Unit: Concept

Prior Knowledge

Students should be able to:

Solve problems involving all four operations with rational numbers.
Understand quantity as a number used with a unit of measurement.
Solve problems involving quantities such as distances, intervals of time, liquid volumes, masses of objects, and money, and with the units of measurement for these quantities.
Understand that a ratio is a comparison of two quantities.
Write ratios for problem situations.
Make and interpret tables, graphs, and diagrams.
Write and solve equations to represent problem situations.

Lesson Flow

In this unit, students will explore the concept of rate in a variety of contexts: beats per minute, unit prices, fuel efficiency of a car, population density, speed, and conversion factors. Students will write and refine their own definition for rate and then use it to recognize rates in different situations. Students will learn that every rate is paired with an inverse rate that is a measure of the same relationship. Students will figure out the logic of how units are used with rates. Then students will represent quantitative relationships involving rates, using tables, graphs, double number lines, and formulas, and they will see how to create one such representation when given another.

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.

This resource is designed to assist students understanding of real-world applicaitono f mathematical concepts.  Students will complete their investigation over the course of 4-5 days, following the multi-segment program "Mathnet" from the PBS series "Square One Television" While watching the day's segment, students will be recording in their notebooks the following information: math concepts used/referred to, important clues about the investigation, and individuals who they believe are "persons of interest."  Following the last video segmnet, students will complete their I"Investigation Report" for submission to their supervisor (a.k.a the teacher).

Adapted from mathematicsvisionproject.com’s Material Overview:
The Mathematics Vision Project (MVP) was created as a resource for teachers to implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) using a task-based approach that leads to skill and efficiency in mathematics by first developing understanding. The MVP approach develops the Standards of Mathematical Practice through experiential learning. Students engage in mathematical problem solving, guided by skilled teachers, in order to achieve mathematical proficiency: conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, strategic competence, adaptive reasoning, and productive disposition. The MVP authors created a curriculum where students do not learn solely by either “internalizing what a teacher or book says or, on the other hand, solely by inventing mathematics on their own.”
The MVP classroom experience begins by confronting students with an engaging problem and allows them to grapple with solving it. As students’ ideas emerge, take form, and are shared, the teacher deliberately orchestrates the student discussions and explorations toward a focused math goal. Students justify their own thinking while clarifying, describing, comparing, and questioning the thinking of others leading to refined thinking and mathematical fluency. What begin as ideas become concepts that lead to formal, traditional math definitions and properties. Strategies become algorithms that lead to procedures supporting efficiency and consistency. Representations become tools of communication which are formalized as mathematical models. Students learn by doing mathematics.