The 18 lessons for middle school/secondary students differentiate, enrich, and supplement the regular math curriculum. They incorporate critical thinking questions, career exploration, and web site searches. Concepts taken from all 13 National Math Standards are integrated into the investigative social studies topics: the Abacus, Angles, Archimedes, the Babylonians and Egyptians, the Calculator, Codes, the Decimal Point, Einstein, Geometry, Latitude, Longitude, Mean, Median, Mode, Money, Scientific Notation, and Volume. A matrix is presented for each unit with correlated standards.
Each unit begins with a short narrative followed by Discussion Questions, Written Responses, and Internet searches. Questions are both mathematical and open-ended critical thinking questions: In the unit about Archimedes, the student is asked: "Research integration as it relates to math and write facts about it." And to encourage critical thinking, "Why do you think mathematics were held in such high esteem in some ancient cultures? Why were they persecuted in others? Give an example of each." An Internet site is listed as well as a prompt for the student to discover their own sites to share with the class.
Explore the history and people behind 18 math concepts that are fundamental in the study of math. Unit activities include computation as well as higher level thinking questions, career exploration, and web site links. Reproducible enrichment units can be used by individuals, partners or small groups. Keyed to the National Math Standards for grades 5-8. Lessons include:
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