The CyberSquad tests which broom can travel the furthest in five seconds in this video from Cyberchase.

This Cyberchase video segment features Bianca, who must figure out the fastest route to a movie premiere.

In this video segment from Cyberchase, Harry decides to train as a firefighter and uses line graphs to chart his physical fitness progress.

The CyberSquad tracks Digital position in time and then studies graphs to figure out what Hacker is scheming in this video from Cyberchase.

In this Cyberchase video segment, the CyberSquad figures out how to earn 100 snelfus in 11 days.

This lesson unit is intended to help sixth grade teachers assess how well students are able to: Analyze a realistic situation mathematically; construct sight lines to decide which areas of a room are visible or hidden from a camera; find and compare areas of triangles and quadrilaterals; and calculate and compare percentages and/or fractions of areas.

During this two-day lesson, students work with a partner to create and implement a problem-solving plan based on the mathematical concepts of rates, ratios, and proportionality. Students analyze the relationship between different-sized gummy bears to solve problems involving size and price.Key ConceptsThroughout this unit, students are encouraged to apply the mathematical concepts they have learned over the course of this year to new settings. Helping students develop and refine these problem solving skills:Creating a problem solving plan and implementing their plan systematicallyPersevering through challenging problems to find solutionsRecalling prior knowledge and applying that knowledge to new situationsMaking connections between previous learning and real-world problemsCommunicating their approaches with precision and articulating why their strategies and solutions are reasonableCreating efficacy and confidence in solving challenging problems in a real worldGoals and Learning ObjectivesCreate and implement a problem-solving plan.Organize and interpret data presented in a problem situation.Analyze the relationship between two variables.Use ratios.Write and solve proportions.Create rate tables to organize data and make predictionsUse multiple representations—including tables, graphs, and equations—to organize and communicate data.Articulate strategies, thought processes, and approaches to solving a problem and defend why the solution is reasonable.

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students examine how to use fractions to measure and help conserve freshwater resources.

This problem, the third in a series of tasks set in the context of a class election, is more than just a problem of computing the number of votes each person receives. In fact, that isnŐt enough information to solve the problem. One must know how many votes it takes to make one half of the total number of votes. Although the numbers are easy to work with, there are enough steps and enough things to keep track of to lift the problem above routine.

In this task students use ratio and rate reasoning to solve the real-world problem of a runners rate and distance.

This series of 5 word problems lead up to the final problem. Most students should be able to answer the first two questions without too much difficulty. The decimal numbers may cause some students trouble, but if they make a drawing of the road that the girls are riding on, and their positions at the different times, it may help. The third question has a bit of a challenge in that students won't land on the exact meeting time by making a table with distance values every hour. The fourth question addresses a useful concept for problems involving objects moving at different speeds which may be new to sixth grade students.

Students learn about the many types of expenses associated with building a bridge. Working like engineers, they estimate the cost for materials for a bridge member of varying sizes. After making calculations, they graph their results to compare how costs change depending on the use of different materials (steel vs. concrete). They conclude by creating a proposal for a city bridge design based on their findings.

In this lesson, students explore rate in the context of grocery shopping. Students use the unit price, or price per egg, to find the price of any number of eggs.Key ConceptsA unit price is a rate. The unit price tells the price of one unit of something (for example, one pound of cheese, one quart of milk, one box of paper clips, one package of cereal, and so on).The unit price can be found by dividing the price in dollars by the number of units.The unit price can be used to find the price of any quantity of something by multiplying the unit price by the quantity.Goals and Learning ObjectivesInvestigate rate as a unit price.Find a unit price by dividing the price in dollars by the number of units.Find the price of any quantity of something by multiplying that quantity by the unit price.

During this two-day lesson, students work with a partner to create and implement a problem-solving plan based on the mathematical concepts of rates, ratios, and proportionality. Students analyze the relationship between different-sized gummy bears to solve problems involving size and price.Key ConceptsThroughout this unit, students are encouraged to apply the mathematical concepts they have learned over the course of this year to new settings. Help students develop and refine these problem-solving skills:Creating a problem solving plan and implementing their plan systematicallyPersevering through challenging problems to find solutionsRecalling prior knowledge and applying that knowledge to new situationsMaking connections between previous learning and real-world problemsCommunicating their approaches with precision and articulating why their strategies and solutions are reasonableCreating efficacy and confidence in solving challenging problems in a real worldGoals and Learning ObjectivesCreate and implement a problem-solving plan.Organize and interpret data presented in a problem situation.Analyze the relationship between two variables.Use ratios.Write and solve proportions.Create rate tables to organize data and make predictions.Use multiple representations—including tables, graphs, and equations—to organize and communicate data.Articulate strategies, thought processes, and approaches to solving a problem, and defend why the solution is reasonable.

Students explore whether rooftop gardens are a viable option for combating the urban heat island effect. Can rooftop gardens reduce the temperature inside and outside houses? Teams each design and construct two model buildings using foam core board, one with a "green roof" and the other with a black tar paper roof. They measure and graph the ambient and inside building temperatures while under heat lamps and fans. Then students analyze the data and determine whether the rooftop gardens are beneficial to the inhabitants.

Students design and build their own model levees. Acting as engineers for their city, teams create sturdy barriers to prevent water from flooding a city in the event of a hurricane.

This is the fourth in a series of tasks about ratios set in the context of a classroom election. What makes this problem interesting is that the number of voters is not given. This information isnŐt necessary, but at first glance some students may believe it is.

As part of a design challenge, students learn how to use a rotation sensor (located inside the casing of a LEGO® MINDSTORMS ® NXT motor) to measure how far a robot moves with each rotation. Through experimentation and measurement with the sensor, student pairs determine the relationship between the number of rotations of the robot's wheels and the distance traveled by the robot. Then they use this ratio to program LEGO robots to move precise distances in a contest of accuracy. The robot that gets closest to the goal without touching the toy figures at the finish line is the winning programming design. Students learn how rotational sensors measure distance, how mathematics can be used for real-world purposes, and about potential sources of error due to gearing when using rotation sensor readings for distance calculations. They also become familiar with the engineering design process as they engage in its steps, from understanding the problem to multiple test/improve iterations to successful design.

This is the first and most basic problem in a series of seven problems, all set in the context of a classroom election. Every problem requires students to understand what ratios are and apply them in a context. The problems build in complexity and can be used to highlight the multiple ways that one can reason about a context involving ratios.