Standards 9.2.1.1-9: Understand the Concept of Function . . .

Title: WORKING FAMILY VALUES

Standards: Research Process, Technology Use

Overview: Students use the Bureau of Labor's web site to find typical rates of pay for ten different jobs, convert figures to dollars per hour, and create a bar graph of the results. Students may use the PBS and Census Bureau web sites for additional research and calculations to explore comparable worth, living wages, and quality of life issues

 

Title: GET THE MEAN-ING

Standards: Research Process, Reading/Media Literacy, Responsible Use

Overview: Students explore averages, means, mode, median, range, and variance by examining data about the relative heights of presidential winners and runners-up to determine how height is viewed as a marker of intelligence and success. Students also collect, analyze, and discuss their own classroom data on intelligence. Refers to the article "Success Is Relative and Height Isn't Everything."

 

Standards 9.2.2.1-6: Linear, Quadratic, Exponential Functions . . .

Title: EXPLORING LINEAR DATA

Standards: Research Process, Reading/Media Literacy

Overview: Students model linear data in a variety of settings ranging from car repair costs to sports to medicine. Students construct scatterplots, interpret data points, and investigate the notion of line of best fit. Students will construct scatterplots of two-variable data, interpret individual data points and make conclusions about trends in data, and estimate and write equations of lines of best fit.

 

Title: FORECASTING THE FUTURE

Standards: Research Process, Technology Use, Reading/Media Literacy

Overview: Students will learn about population estimates and population projections. Students will compare population projections based on numerical growth and on geometric growth. Students research the Census Bureau website to obtain numbers for calculations.

 

Standards 9.2.3.1-7: Generate and Evaluate Algebraic Expressions . . .

Title: GRANDPA'S SOCIAL SECURITY

Standards: Research Process

Overview: Students explore how algebra can be useful by determining whether Grandpa should start receiving his social security benefits at age 62 or age 64. Students make an equation of the situation, plot both scenarios, and consider a variety of circumstances. Students may survey people to determine real, rather than arbitrary, numbers.

 

Title: NUTRIENTS BY THE NUMBERS

Standards: Research Process, Technology Use, Reading/Media Literacy

Overview: Students evaluate the Nutrition Facts on labels of various brands of similar food products, calculate both percentages and fractional amounts of the nutritional components in each one, and create a presentation graph which compares products. Students individually calculate their daily intake of various nutrients and compare these figures to the recommendations of the U.S.D.A.

 

Standards 9.2.4.1-8: Solve Real-world and Mathematical Situations . . .

 

Title: NATIONAL DEBT AND WARS

Standards: Research Process, Technology Use, Reading/Media Literacy

Overview: Students collect information about the national debt, plot the data by decade, and determine whether an exponential curve is a good fit for the data. Students will compare common traits and differences, choose an appropriate scale, and compare percent changes in the debt between the Civil War, World War I, and World War II.

 

Title: SMOKEY THE BEAR TAKES ALGEBRA

Standards: Research Process, Reading/Media Literacy

Objective: Students explore the many factors that play a role in creating a forest-fire danger rating index including relative humidity and temperature. Using a real-world situation, students examine the meaning of slope, intercepts of a line, and summation notation. Students use graphing calculators to find equations modeling the relationship between the slope of the land versus rate of fire spread.