Lessons
Lessons in Units
CCSS Units
See You Ladder
How high can ladders safely reach? Students use the Pythagorean Theorem to determine the maximum height ladders can safely reach and discuss the implications for fire safety and building construction.
My Fellow Americans
Is simpler always better? Students evaluate expressions with variables to compare the reading levels of famous speeches in American history and debate the virtues of complexity vs. popularity.
Pic Me
What’s the best way to use Instagram? Students use histograms, linear regressions, and r-squared values to debate the most effective strategies to gain Insta-fame...and the consequences of always having to smile for the camera.
Seeking Shelter
How is the homeless population changing around the country? Students write linear equations to model the homeless populations in New York City and Los Angeles and discuss what they can do to aid people experiencing homelessness in their communities.
Timber
What’s the best strategy for cutting down trees? Students use cylinder volume to determine how the amount of wood in a tree changes as it grows and discuss how communities around the world can harvest (or not harvest) wood in a sustainable way.
House of Pain
Why are so many Americans dying from opiate overdoses? Students use exponential decay and rational functions to understand why addicted patients seek more and stronger opioids to alleviate their pain. Students discuss the role that various parties played in creating the crisis and ways they can help to solve it.
You're So Fined
How do municipal fines affect people with different incomes? Students write, solve, and graph systems of linear equations to determine how long it takes to pay off a ticket and debate the fairest ways for cities to raise revenues without harming their poorest residents.
False Flags
How accurate should government surveillance be? Students calculate conditional probabilities to determine the likelihood of false-positives and false-negatives, and discuss the tradeoffs between safety and accuracy.
Wage War
Should the government increase the minimum wage? Students use systems of linear equations to explore the relationship between wage and labor, analyze the economics of fast-food restaurants, and debate whether the federal government should increase the minimum wage.
Pair-Alysis
How many different shoes can you design on NIKEiD? Students use tree diagrams to determine the total number of design combinations that are possible on NikeID and discuss the psychological impact of having billions of options to choose from.
Safely Rest
How should Arlington National Cemetery plan for its future? Students write and solve linear equations to estimate when Arlington National Cemetery will reach capacity, evaluate various proposals to prolong its lifespan, and debate the best way for Arlington to honor soldiers and their families.
Connected
Do social networks like Facebook make us more connected? Students create a quadratic function to model the number of possible connections as a network grows, and consider the consequences of relying on Facebook for news and information.
Hereby Sentence
Is there evidence of racial bias in death penalty sentencing? Students analyze almost thirty years’ worth of data summarized in frequency tables and discuss whether they see evidence of racial bias in who receives the death penalty and who doesn’t.
Out of Left Field
Should Major League Baseball stadiums be standardized? Students use a quadratic function to model the trajectory of the average professional home run and debate whether Major League Baseball stadiums should all be designed the same.
Bottled Water
What’s the best size of disposable water bottle? Students use the volume and surface area of cylinders to compare disposable water bottles and consider environmentally-friendly ways to stay hydrated.