This task is designed as an assessment item. It requires students to use information in a two-way table to calculate a probability and a conditional probability. Although the item is written in multiple choice format, the answer choices could be omitted to create a short-answer task.

SSAC Physical Volcanology module. Students build a spreadsheet to examine and apply the Mogi model for horizontal and vertical surface displacement vs. depth and pressure conditions in the magma chamber.

This activity is a hands-on modeling of the effects of pollution on our ground and surface water. Students will observe and record their observations as pollution is placed on the ground in their model and it is rained upon.

Procedures for germinating seeds using simple materials to investigate the interactions between the environment and germination.

Student teams design and conduct quality-control experiments to test the reliability of several ultraviolet protection factors. Students use UV-detecting beads in their experimental designs to test the effectiveness of various types of sunscreens and sunblock. For example, they might examine zinc oxide nanoparticles versus traditional organic sun protection factors. UV intensity is quantitatively measured by UVA and UVB Vernier sensors, and students record and graph their results. By designing and conducting this experiment, students compare various substances, while learning about quality control.

To learn how friction affects motion, students explore how different textures provide varying amounts of friction to objects moving across them. They build a tool to measure the amount of friction between a note card and various surfaces by measuring the distance that a rubber band stretches. They experiment with a range of materials to determine which provides the least/most friction.

Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module. Students use Polya's problem-solving heuristic to find the distance of a peak using vertical angles sighted from a wagon train heading toward the peak.

Students conduct experiments to determine what environmental factors favor decomposition by soil microbes. They use chunks of carrots for the materials to be decomposed, and their experiments are carried out in plastic bags filled with dirt. Every few days students remove the carrots from the dirt and weigh them. Depending on the experimental conditions, after a few weeks most of the carrots have decomposed completely.

Students learn about porosity and permeability and relate these concepts to groundwater flow. They use simple materials to conduct a porosity experiment and use the data to understand how environmental engineers decide on the placement and treatment of a drinking water well.

In this activity using a balance scale students practice weighing items to see how heavy they are. Cubes are used in the balance as units of measure so students may easily count them.

Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module. Students build spreadsheets to calculate the edge length of cubes and diameter of spheres of various rocks starting with their mineralogic composition.

Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module. Students calculate the volume of the Great Pyramid and, following Napoleon, estimate whether its volume is large enough to make a wall around France.

Students work in pairs to measure length by lining up cubes along the longest side of an item. They count and record length by counting the number of cubes.

In this lesson, students use historical nonstandard units (digits, hand, cubit, yard, foot, pace, fathom) to estimate the lengths of common objects and then measure using modern standard units. They will discover the usefulness of standardized measurement units and tools. An activity sheet (pdf), assessment options and other commentary are provided.

This task uses student generated data to assess standard 7.SP.7. This task could also be extended to address Standard 7.SP.1 by adding a small or whole class discussion of whether the class could be considered as a representative sample of all students at your school.

The purpose of this task is for students to apply the concepts of mass, volume, and density in a real-world context. There are several ways one might approach the problem, e.g., by estimating the volume of a person and dividing by the volume of a cell.

These two fraction division tasks use the same context and ask ŇHow much in one group?Ó but require students to divide the fractions in the opposite order. Students struggle to understand which order one should divide in a fraction division context, and these two tasks give them an opportunity to think carefully about the meaning of fraction division.

This task gives children an opportunity to subtract a three-digit number including a zero that requires regrouping. The solutions show how students can solve this problem before they have learned the traditional algorithm.

This is a mathematical modeling task aimed at making a reasonable estimate for something which is too large to count accurately, the number of leaves on a tree.

In this problem, the variables a,b,c, and d are introduced to represent important quantities for this esimate: students should all understand where the formula in the solution for the number of leaves comes from. Estimating the values of these variables is much trickier and the teacher should expect and allow a wide range of variation here.