Gingerbread Man Math
Gingerbread men and gingerbread houses enjoy special popularity around the holidays, but many of these gingerbread activities are timeless and complement literature titles that teachers use at the beginning of school or after the holidays. It's very easy to incorporate mathematics into a study of gingerbread men, and students will enjoy the data collection activities and games while learning math skills and deepening their understanding of important mathematical concepts. Look through these math
Algebra: Growing Patterns
Introduce elementary students to the concept of functions by investigating growing patterns. Visual patterns formed with manipulatives are especially effective for elementary students and allow them to concretely build understanding as they first reproduce, then extend the pattern to the next couple of stages.
Counting on Art
In Counting on Art, students will explore the paintings of Horace Pippin and Wayne Thiebaud and the mobiles of Alexander Calder to discover and practice math and visual art concepts.In Pippin's Story, young children (grades K–3) focus on a painting by African American artist Horace Pippin. They will learn how to "read" the clues in a painting and write a story about the work. Students will also solve counting and time problems and create their own "secret number" painting.Calder's Balancing Ac
Human Accelerator
Jefferson Lab's accelerator only works if all of its thousands of components work together. In this experiment, students work together to move 'electrons' down their 'accelerator'.
Magnets and Electromagnets
Scientists use electromagnets to steer Jefferson Lab's electron beam around the accelerator. In this experiment, students learn what affects the strength of an electromagnet. Detailed instructions for building the electromagnet used in this experiment can be found in the Questions and Answers section of this site.
Slow Bicycle Race
Experiments at Jefferson Lab will take weeks to months to complete. During this time scientists will collect millions of pieces of data. Once the scientists have the data, they begin to analyze the data using computers, looking for evidence to support or disprove their theories. To simulate the scientific data collection process, students will create the necessary data to calculate speed.
Who Wants to Win a Million Dollars? - The Science Game
Welcome to Who Wants to Win a Million Dollars! Test your knowledge of math and science as you work your way to the million dollar level! Although the questions you will answer are real, the money, unfortunately, is not.
Design and Engineering
How should you build a boat so that it carries the most cargo? In this experiment, students form teams to solve an engineering problem.
Cold Stuff
What kind of coat will keep you the warmest, one made from cotton, steel wool or air? In this experiment, students test three materials to determine which one is the best insulator.
A Different Way of Measuring
In this experiment, students measure the area of a dime using methods similar to those used by scientists to measure the size of atoms. When working with atoms, scientists sometimes have to invent new ways of doing simple things. For instance, scientists can't use a ruler to measure the size of an atom's nucleus. This activity shows how ratios can be used to calculate the area covered by an object.
Shape of Things
How can scientists study something they can't see? In this experiment, students use indirect observations to predict the shape of a hidden object. Scientists at Jefferson Lab study atoms in a similar fashion.
Place Value Game
The goal of the Place Value Game is to create the largest possible number from the digits the computer gives you. Unfortunately, the computer will give you each digit one at a time and you won't know what the next number will be. You are not allowed to rearrange any of the digits you have already placed, so think carefully before you lock a number in place! Good luck!
Vocabulary Hangman Game
The computer will randomly pick a term used in science, math or social sciences. Discover the word the computer has picked by guessing which letters are in it. Each incorrect guess you make causes the atom man to decay. Solve the puzzle before the atom man completely decays!
SpeedMath Inequalities Game
The goal of SpeedMath - Inequalities is to determine, as quickly as possible, if one expression is larger than, smaller than, or equal to another expression.
SpeedMath Deluxe Game
The goal of SpeedMath Deluxe is to create an equation, as quickly as possible, from the four digits the computer gives you. You can use addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to create your equation, but you are not allowed to rearrange the digits.
Mystery Math Game
Before computers were common, accountants would use digital roots to quickly check their math. Today, your students can use digital roots to play a trick on their friends while working out math problems in their heads!
Looking for a Top Quark Game
Graphing is an important tool used by scientists to interpret data. Students can practice their graphing skills while playing this game.
The Numbers Behind Hunger: Rate of Change
Following are a series of activities in which students apply various math skills to better understand the problems of world hunger and what steps are being taken to reduce the number of people without enough to eat. This activity looks at how the number of people affected by hunger is changing. Students will understand the dynamic nature of the problem and the challenges of reaching the Millennium Development Goal to reduce the number of people suffering from hunger by half by 2015. This is Acti
The Numbers Behind Hunger: Probability
Following are a series of activities in which students apply various math skills to better understand the problems of world hunger and what steps are being taken to reduce the number of people without enough to eat. This actions looks at probability from the perspective of reducing child mortality. This is Activity #4 of 5 in this lesson.
The Numbers Behind Hunger: Calorie Counting
Following are a series of activities in which students apply various math skills to better understand the problems of world hunger and what steps are being taken to reduce the number of people without enough to eat. This activity makes use of basic math skills to learn more about the energy value of food. A link to the US Dept. of Agriculture National Nutrient Database is listed here. Teachers may want to browse through the database first and determine the best way to present it to students: let
