Archive for the 'Real Data' Category

Let’s Go to a Math Fair!

How could we organize a math fair? And what kinds of projects would our students present? I’m not thinking here of projects that would be judged, as in a science fair, but rather investigations and activities that would engage middle school students and be presented for the whole school as well as parents. One idea comes from […]

Posted in Topics: Algebra, Geometry, Integrating Math and Science, Math, Patterns, Quick Takes, Real Data, Statistics, Triangles

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Pandemics and Their Numbers

Everywhere our students are hearing about the HINI influenza. Their interest offers an opportunity to co-teach with a science teacher in an investigation of what we know and don’t know about this pandemic. The New York Times has created an interdisciplinary lesson Pandemic Panic: Researching the 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) Pandemic that asks students to […]

Posted in Topics: Graphs, Health, Math, Quick Takes, Real Data, Representation, Science, Statistics

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Join the MSP2 Book Club

The Middle School Portal 2: Math and Science Pathways (MSP2) project is starting an online book club. Our first selection is The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. In it, Michael Pollan writes about how our food is grown - what it is, in fact, that we are eating. Pollan looks at industrial […]

Posted in Topics: Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Ecosystems, Environmental Issues, Ethics, Fossil Fuels, Gardening, Math, Nutrition, Personal and Social Issues, Plants, Quick Takes, Real Data, Science

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Forensic Science: A Hit in Middle School, Maggots and All

The latest online publication from the Middle School Portal is now available - Forensic Science: Middle School. We’ve searched the web for the best resources associated with this topic but I’m sure we haven’t found all the great ones. We’d like your help - do you know of other resources we should include? If you […]

Posted in Topics: Genetics, Insects, Life Sciences, Quick Takes, Real Data, Science, Scientific Method

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Math Students Collaborating Nationwide, Even Worldwide!

There are middle school projects that gain impact through collaboration with students outside your own classroom, such as estimating the average amount of water used per person per day. This problem takes on deeper relevance when averages are compared to those of classrooms around the country and the world. Other projects, such as finding the circumference […]

Posted in Topics: Data, Data Analysis, Instruction, Integrating Technology, Math, Measurement, Process Skills (Mathematics), Quick Takes, Real Data, Statistics

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Birds of a Feather: Citizen-Science and Data Analysis

Do you need an innovative way to engage students in data collection and analysis? Or maybe you’d like to teach life science concepts in a more authentic context. Whether you are a science teacher, a math teacher, or both, you may want to consider a citizen-science project from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Focusing on bird […]

Posted in Topics: Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Data, Data Analysis, Graphs, Life Sciences, Math, National Standards, Quick Takes, Real Data, Science

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Connecting Classrooms, Sharing Real Data

This article first appeared in Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears online magazine April 1, 2008. The article has been modified to include middle school math and science examples. All versions of this article are licensed under a Creative Commons License.
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Collaborative and real-time data projects engage students in collecting and sharing local data; communicating […]

Posted in Topics: Data, Data Analysis, Integrating Technology, Math, Measurement, Personal and Social Issues, Process Skills (Mathematics), Quick Takes, Real Data, Science

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Getting Dirty With Data

Data overwhelms our modern lives. How to make sense of the numbers in newspaper stories, in campaign speeches, in scientific experiments? Statistics offers tools to help us organize and interpret data. Even at the middle school level, students can work with statistics in real-world situations, whether actual or simulated. To actually apply statistics to real […]

Posted in Topics: Data, Data Analysis, Math, Quick Takes, Real Data, Statistics

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Give Us Our Daily Math

Middle schoolers may not easily see the connection between data analysis problems invented for the classroom and math problems encountered in their daily lives. You will spark their interest in data analysis by showing them its value in finding solutions to real problems in many settings — from buying a soda to taking after-school jobs […]

Posted in Topics: Algebra, Data, Data Analysis, Graphs, Math, Quick Takes, Real Data, Statistics

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Math Starters: Projects to Begin the Year!

If you want to “hook” your class on math right from the start, you may want to consider one of these real-world projects. Students deal with real data in these investigations—collecting, presenting, and analyzing their findings. As they work on the NCTM Data Analysis and Probability Standard, they apply school mathematics in contexts arising outside […]

Posted in Topics: Data, Data Analysis, Math, Probability, Process Skills (Mathematics), Quick Takes, Real Data

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