Students determine the refractive index of a liquid with a simple technique using a semi-circular hollow block. Then they predict the refractive index of a material (a Pyrex glass tube) by matching it with the known refractive index of a liquid using the percent light transmission measurement. The homemade light intensity detector uses an LED and multimeter, which are relatively inexpensive (and readily available) compared to commercially available measurement instruments.

The coffee cooling experiment is a popular example of an exponential model with immediate appeal. The model is realistic and provides a good context for students to practice work with exponential equations.

This resource was created by the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. 

Many factors influence the success and survival rate of a population of living things. Explore several factors that can determine the survival of a population of sheep in this NetLogo model. Start with a model of unlimited grass available to the sheep and watch what happens to the sheep population! Next try to keep the population under control by removing sheep periodically. Change the birthrate, grass regrowth rate, and the amount of energy rabbits get from the grass to keep a stable population.

The context of this task is a familiar one: a cold beverage warms once it is taken out of the refrigerator. Rather than giving the explicit function governing this warmth, a graph is presented along with the general form of the function. Students must then interpret the graph in order to understand more specific details regarding the function.

This simple conceptual problem does not require algebraic manipulation, but requires students to articulate the reasoning behind each statement.

Students explore how the efficiency of a solar photovoltaic (PV) panel is affected by the ambient temperature. They learn how engineers predict the power output of a PV panel at different temperatures and examine some real-world engineering applications used to control the temperature of PV panels.

This task focuses on the fact that linear functions are characterized by constant differences over equal intervals. It could be used alongside to F-LE Equal Differences over Equal Intervals I & II.

Investigate the effect of gravity on objects of various mass during free fall. Predict what the position-time and velocity-time graphs will look like. Compare graphs for light and heavy objects.

Students learn the importance of heat transfer and heat conductance. Using hot plates, student groups measure the temperature change of a liquid over a set time period and use the gathered data to calculate the heat transfer that occurs. Then, as if they were engineers, students pool their results to discuss and determine the best fluid to use in a car radiator.