Mathematics — Grade 6

ACC basketball

The students will use ACC basketball statistics to practice the process of converting fractions to decimals then to percents and will learn how to create and edit a spreadsheet. They will then use this spreadsheet to analyze their data. This unit is done during the basketball season.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 Computer Technology Skills and Mathematics)

By Susan Dougherty.

Camp Earth Bound: Problem Solving and Finding for Fun

Students will work together in small groups of four to six students to solve the following word problems. Their solutions will require them to practice interview techniques and create a database and/or spreadsheet of their results. This information will be the basis of the answers to the following eight word problems. Skills such as area, cost, calorie count, ratio, percentage and scale, as well as persuasive writing will be applied.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 English Language Arts and Mathematics)

By Jamie Hulse.

Exploring Probability : Part 1 of 2

This lesson will introduce students to probability using resources of Shodor Education Foundation, Inc. Permission has been granted for the use of the materials as part of the workshop Interactivate Your Bored Math Students. Students will discover the rule for calculating simple probability as well as explore the ideas of experimental and theoretical probability.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 Computer Technology Skills and Mathematics)

By Wendy Korbusieski.

Exploring Probability: Part 2 of 2

This lesson will introduce students to the concept of fairness as it relates to probability following Part 1 of this lesson which introduces the concept and procedure for calculating probability. Both of these lessons use the resources of Shodor Education Foundation, Inc. Permission has been granted for the use of the materials as part of the workshop Interactivate Your Bored Math Students. Students will define fairness and determine if a game is fair.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 Computer Technology Skills and Mathematics)

By Wendy Korbusieski.

Gridding a site

In their study of how to grid a site, students will use a map and the Cartesian coordinate system to establish a grid system over an archaeological site, labeling each grid unit; determine the location of artifacts within each grid unit; and construct a scientific inquiry concerning the location of artifacts on the site.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4–8 English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Mathematics)

Integrated Unit on South America

This lesson includes information concerning database operations, word processing, desktop publishing, and spreadsheet formatting. Students will solve math problems.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 Social Studies, Computer Technology Skills, English Language Development, and Mathematics)

By DPI Integration Strategies.

Leap frogs tend toward the center?

Students learn the meanings of the central tendency concepts range, mean, median, and mode. They will make origami frogs, jump them across a track and record the length of their jumps and the total number of jumps across trials.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 Mathematics)

By Erin Foerster.

Pizza Anyone?

Students survey their class and analyze data about favorite pizza toppings.

This activity is meant to be fun and engaging, with the class participating and making decisions as a whole.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 Mathematics)

By Jack Hunter.

Popcorn Math

In this lesson students will use a consumable manipulative to understand percent, fraction and decimal conversions. They will also collect data on a teacher produced spreadsheet while using a computer generated spreadsheet to make conversions.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 Computer Technology Skills and Mathematics)

By Henrietta Shepherd.

A population and a biome

This activity will introduce students to the use of laptop computers. Students will participate in a unit on ecosystems using the Microsoft programs Excel and PowerPoint.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 English Language Arts, Computer Technology Skills, Mathematics, and Science)

By Ronald Cross.

See How They Run! The 100 Meter Dash

Middle level students will collect times as they run the 100 meter dash. These times will be depicted through various graphic representations (bar, circle, histogram). Times will be compared to current world records for the 100 meters. Students will decide which Math class ran fastest and support that choice in short essay form. They will also try to determine the faster gender based on the data collected.

This lesson plan is a unit filled with related lesson plans. One or two parts of this project could be completed as a stand-alone lesson, or the entire set of activities and extensions could be completed for an involved, integrated unit.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 Mathematics)

By Holly Smith.

Statistics Project

Students collect numeric and non-numeric data. They are then expected to use the data collected to construct different types of graphs as well as finding central tendencies.

Format: lesson plan (grade 5–8 Mathematics)

By Audrea Saunders.

Stocks Report

Students will create graphs illustrating changes in stocks and answer questions using the graphs.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 Computer Technology Skills and Mathematics)

By Susan Blackwell.

Water, Water Everywhere...

This is a good beginning of the year lesson to review fractions, decimals, geometry (the number of degrees in a circle and drawing a circle with a protractor), graphing, and metric measurement. This lesson is a good way for students to meet their peers while working cooperatively in a task-oriented group. The watermelon you will be using for the activity is also a good start-of-the-year treat. Be sure to get an extra watermelon or two to share at the end of the activity.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 Mathematics)

By Jayne Brown.

Lesson plans on the web

Balancing shapes

In this lesson, one of a multi-part unit from Illuminations, students balance shapes using an interactive pan balance applet to study equality as an introduction to algebra. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6 Mathematics)

Provider: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Barbie bungee

In this Illuminations lesson, students model a bungee jump using a Barbie doll and rubber bands. The distance to which the doll will fall is directly proportional to the number of rubber bands, so this context is used to examine linear functions. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–12 Mathematics)

Provider: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Baseball stats

Students use the Internet to explore datasets and statistics in baseball. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 Mathematics)

Provider: American Association for the Advancement of Science

Burning questions

In this lesson, one of a multi-part unit from Illuminations, students use information from a quiz, along with what they learned in the previous four lessons, to write a summary and finalize a property sketch demonstrating their understanding of wildfires. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 Mathematics)

Provider: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Comparing properties of the mean and the median through the use of technology

Students compare and contrast properties of measures of central tendency, specifically the influence of changes in data values on the mean and median. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 4–7 Mathematics)

Provider: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Dealing with data in the elementary school

In this lesson, from Illuminations, students hone their problem-solving skills through the collection and analysis of real data. They use the mean, mode, and median to analyze their data and make graphs to represent their findings. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–8 Mathematics)

Provider: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics