This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about division of lengths (metric units).

The purpose of this task is to introduce the idea of exponential growth and then connect that growth to expressions involving exponents. It illustrates well how fast exponential expressions grow.

In this activity, students will test whether the color of a material affects how much heat it absorbs.

Through a teacher-led discussion, students realize that the food energy plants obtain comes from sunlight via the plant process of photosynthesis. They learn what photosynthesis is, at an age-appropriate level of detail and vocabulary, and then begin to question how we know that photosynthesis occurs, if we can't see it happening. Elodea is a common water plant that students can use to directly observe evidence of photosynthesis. When Elodea is placed in a glass beaker near a good light source, bubbles of oxygen will be released as products of photosynthesis. By counting the number of bubbles that rise to the surface in a five-minute period, students can compare the photosynthetic activity of Elodea in the presence of high and low light levels.

Students learn about the amazing adaptations of the ptarmigan to the alpine tundra. They focus one adaptation, the feathered feet of the ptarmigan, and ask whether the feathers serve to only keep the feet warm or to also provide the bird with floatation capability. They create model ptarmigan feet, with and without feathers, and test the hypothesis on the function of the feathers. Ultimately, students make a claim about whether the feathers provide floatation and support this claim with their testing evidence.

Students learn about biomimicry and the engineering design process as they design and build model ptarmigan feet.

This problem allows the student to think geometrically about lines and then relate this geometry to linear functions. Or the student can work algebraically with equations in order to find the explicit equation of the line through two points (when that line is not vertical).

This task is designed as a follow-up to the task F-LE Do Two Points Always Determine a Linear Function? Linear equations and linear functions are closely related, and there advantages and disadvantages to viewing a given problem through each of these points of view. This task is intended to show the depth of the standard F-LE.2 and its relationship to other important concepts of the middle school and high school curriculum, including ratio, algebra, and geometry.

This problem complements the problem ``Do two points always determine a linear function?''

This task requires students to use the normal distribution as a model for a data distribution. Students must use given means and standard deviations to approximate population percentages. There are several ways (tables, graphing calculators, or statistical software) that students might calculate the required normal percentages. Depending on the method used, answers might vary somewhat from those shown in the solution.

In this activity, students squeeze a tennis ball to demonstrate the strength of the human heart. Working in teams, they think of ways to keep the heart beating if the natural mechanism were to fail. The goal of this activity is to get students to understand the strength and resilience of the heart.

Students explore the concept of optical character recognition (OCR) in a problem-solving environment. They research OCR and OCR techniques and then apply those methods to the design challenge by developing algorithms capable of correctly "reading" a number on a typical high school sports scoreboard. Students use the structure of the engineering design process to guide them to develop successful algorithms. In the associated activity, student groups implement, test and revise their algorithms. This software design lesson/activity set is designed to be part of a Java programming class.

Students work with specified materials to create aqueduct components that can transport two liters of water across a short distance in their classroom. The design challenge is to create an aqueduct that can supply Aqueductis, a (hypothetical) Roman city, with clean water for private homes, public baths and fountains as well as crop irrigation.

This is a course about how research knowledge and other types of knowledge come to be actionable and influential in the world‰ŰÓor not. The course explores ways to make research knowledge more accessible, credible, and useful in the realm of public policy and practice‰ŰÓa project in which the course faculty collectively bring decades of professional experience, in both academic and non-academic roles. The course addresses the politics of the policymaking process, the power of framing and agenda-setting, fads and paradigms in the design professions and society in general, how knowledge diffuses along knowledge and influence networks, and how varied types of knowledge (rational, craft, other) and deliberation shape decision-making and action. The course engages a number of guests to present case studies of research in use (and abuse) in varied fields, highlighting rich areas for potential research contribution, along with major conflicts in public values, political interests, ethical obligations, and more. The resulting dilemmas confront scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and others as they look to research‰ŰÓsometimes‰ŰÓfor useful guidance, influence, or both.

Introduces the process of social research, emphasizing the conceptualization of research choices to ensure validity, relevance, and discovery. Includes research design and techniques of data collection as well as issues in the understanding, analysis, and interpretation of data. This course is designed to lay the foundations of good empirical research in the social sciences. It does not deal with specific techniques per se, but rather with the assumptions and the logic underlying social research. Students become acquainted with a variety of approaches to research design, and are helped to develop their own research projects and to evaluate the products of empirical research.

A large proportion of contemporary research on organizations, strategy, innovation and management relies on quantitative research methods. Subject examines the research process as the goal is to help students understand the relationship between theory, data and statistical methods. It is designed to provide an introduction to some of the most commonly used quantitative techniques, including logit/probit models, count models, event history models, and pooled cross-section techniques.

The purpose of the task is to analyze a plausible real-life scenario using a geometric model. The task requires knowledge of volume formulas for cylinders and cones, some geometric reasoning involving similar triangles, and pays attention to reasonable approximations and maintaining reasonable levels of accuracy throughout.

Using the same method for measuring friction that was used in the previous lesson (Discovering Friction), students design and conduct experiments to determine if the amount of area over which an object contacts a surface it is moving across affects the amount of friction encountered.

Students gain an understanding of the factors that affect wind turbine operation. Following the steps of the engineering design process, engineering teams use simple materials (cardboard and wooden dowels) to build and test their own turbine blade prototypes with the objective of maximizing electrical power output for a hypothetical situation—helping scientists power their electrical devices while doing research on a remote island. Teams explore how blade size, shape, weight and rotation interact to achieve maximal performance, and relate the power generated to energy consumed on a scale that is relevant to them in daily life. A PowerPoint® presentation, worksheet and post-activity test are provided.