Apply the concept of similar triangles to design a space in a room. Scholars use similar triangles to determine how a spotlight reflects from a mirror. After drawing the path of the spotlight, individuals find the smallest possible width...

How many hot dogs does Fenway Park go through in a year? Learners estimate answers to this question and more as they work through the task. Problems require participants to make assumptions and use those assumptions to make estimations.

Explore business problems through mathematical analysis. The task has individuals write and graph a linear system to determine the best business model. They use their models to answer a series of questions that help to make a conclusion.

Start a trend by using blirts and gorks as your standard unit of measures. The activity asks learners to take a known measures of blirts and gorks and develop a conversion ratio. Individuals use both perimeter and area measures of...

The reason people first began trading was because of their desires for objects other societies possessed. In the activity, classes discuss why exploration has been a common thread in all societies and where these desires have taken...

Make sure scholars know all about fractions and decimals — not just a fraction of the information. The 12th installment of a 21-part series is a mid-module assessment. Learners solve problems in the context of a birthday party and a...

Give learners a chance to shine. The last installment of a 21-part series is an end-of-module assessment. Scholars show their understanding of operations with decimals and division of fractions by solving problems in the context of a...

Explore the effect of outliers through an analysis of mean, median, and standard deviation. Your classes examine and compare these measures for two groups. They must make sense of a group that has a higher mean but lower median compared...

Is it crazy to fall in love with your own work, or is that the purest love of all? Compare two renditions of the classic Greek myth Pygmalion and Galatea with a literary analysis exercise. After students compare the similarities and...

Tiny particles can provide big learning opportunities! Middle school scientists explore the world of nanoparticles through reading, discussion, and experiment. Collaborative groups first apply nanotechnology to determine water...

The United States leads the world in the percentage of obese adults and children. Why? What can be done about the problem? High school psychology classes adopt a problem-focused approach to investigating childhood obesity and then...

Jump at the chance to use parabolas. Young mathematicians apply trigonometry to explore the trajectory of a ball in different situations. Some walls cause the ball to bounce, so participants must consider all possibilities.

Musical theater is a trifecta, requiring cast members to be actors, singers, and dancers. Help theater arts students develop these skills with a unit designed to prepare them for a staging of a musical.

Stay tuned for a programming announcement. The resource contains the four free-response questions from the 2007 AP® Computer Science exam. Teachers and pupils use the questions to understand how topics appear on exams. The items cover...

Given a set of questions, pupils realize the way the Calculus BC free-response exam asks questions. The items include both contextual and non-contextual questions. Both types are split into the calculator and non-calculator sections for...

In the age of the Internet, are libraries still important? A collection of sources, part of a set of sample free-response questions from the AP® English Language and Composition exam, discuss that question. A variety of sources,...

In 2011, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial opened in Washington, DC to much praise and some criticism. Part of a series of response questions from the AP® English Language and Composition exam, writers consider what factors...

For some students, college may not be worth the cost. Free-response questions from the 2014 AP® English Language and Composition exam cover a variety of topics, including the value of a college education. Writers review six sources to...

When it comes to testing, practice makes perfect. A set of free-response questions from the AP® English Language and Composition exam help writers prepare for the test. Three different prompts cover topics such as monolingual English...

A company enjoys a monopoly. What happens to its profits when another firm introduces a similar product? Learners consider the case using questions from College Board. Other prompts include the effects of sales taxes and supply and...

Let's put it in context. Pupils use the AP® Calculus BC free-response questions to practice for the exam. Five of the six released items deal with mathematical problems, with one using a real-world situation. Learners use differentiation...

Where have all the activists gone? Class members compare 21st-century activism with the suffrage movement and the work of Susan B. Anthony. They begin by examining Anthony's biography and speeches to find evidence that her words and...

Take mathematics to the hoop! Pairs first measure the linear distances on a basketball court. Using those measurements, they determine the scale lengths to create a scaled model. To finish the activity, learners create models of the...

Cover the floor with math. Pupils work to determine the proper shape to cover a kitchen floor. They first determine the number of tiles to purchase and configure their placement to reduce the amount of waste. Teams finish by creating a...