Unit Projects
Grade 6
prime time
My Special Number
Students choose a "special number" and use all they have learned in the Unit to describe mathematical properties and real-world applications or occurrences of their number.
covering and surrounding
design an aquarium
Students draw a floor plan for an aquarium, make flat patterns to represent miniatures, and submit a written proposal highlighting the features of their aquarium
Decimal Ops
Ordering from a catalog
Students select items from a catalog and fill out an order form, calculating shipping, tax, and discounts.
data about us
is anyone typical?
Students apply what they have learned in the Unit to gather, organize, analyze, interpret, and display information about the “typical” middle school student.
Grade 7
Shapes and Designs
What I know about shapes and designs
Students create representations of what they have learned about various polygons, the relationships of their sides and angles, and where these shapes can be found in their world.
accentuate the negative
dealing down
Students apply what they have learned to a game. They then write a report explaining their strategies and their use of mathematics
stretching and shrinking
shrinking or enlarging pictures
Students shrink or enlarge a drawing or photograph by hand. They then analyze the relationships among the lengths, areas, and angle measurements of the original and those of the new drawing.
Comparing and Scaling
Paper pool
Students look at several simplified pool tables to determine the number of hits a ball will make before it goes into a pocket and the pocket in which it will land. They use their results to make predictions for other tables.
filing and wrapping
package design contest
Students design packages for table-tennis balls, calculate the costs of their packages, and justify the designs of their packages.
Moving Straight Ahead
Conducting an Experiment
Students collect data about dripping water or rebounding balls and make predictions based on their data.
What Do you expect?
the carnival game
Students design carnival games and analyze the probabilities of winning and the expected values. They then write a report explaining why their game should be included in the school carnival.
Grade 8
Growing, growing, growing
Half-Life
Students use cubes to simulate the radioactive decay of a substance and estimate its half-life. They then create a new situation involving radioactive decay and design and carry out their own simulation.
Butterflies, pinwheels, and wallpaper
Making a wreath and a pinwheel
Students make an origami wreath and transform it into a pinwheel. They investigate and describe the symmetries of their creation at various stages.
Say It With Symbols
Finding the Surface Area of Rod Stacks
Students find the volume and surface area of stacks and rods. They look for patterns and then apply what they have learned about writing algebraic expressions to describe patterns that they observe and verify the equivalence of those expressions.