Middle school math activity forum

This page is meant to aid teachers and parents in teaching kinesthetic math lessons to 6-8th grade students. Here we try to avoid textbook definitions of math concepts by encouraging more artistic, kinesthetic, and relatable math concepts which naturally flow in story-like forms. Our goal is to not patronize middle-schoolers with technical language, while still explaining instructions simply through visual examples.

We hope to keep middle-schoolers interested, while organically showing the link between mathematics and creativity.

Discuss and and show us your versions of the Middle School Math Activities[edit | edit source]

You can use this link: Middle School Math Activities Forum Discussion or use the discussion tab at the top of this page.

Activities that We Created[edit | edit source]

Below are some activities we created ourselves. These are examples of the type of content we are looking for. Descriptions are included with the titles of the projects.

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  The Fibonacci in nature activity is an activity that has students go on a "scavenger hunt" for whatever they can find in nature with a spiral. Students are then shown the relation between the objects they found vie the Fibonacci Sequence. Students are then led through an activity of calculating and drawing their own Fibonacci Sequence.

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  "Drawing With Light: Sphere Circumference, Surface Area, and Volume" is an activity that shows students how to "draw with light" by lowering the shutter speed of a camera or phone. Students are asked to "draw" a sphere by holding two light sources in each hand and move in a certain way shown in a video on this activity page, and they are then asked to calculate the circumference, surface area, and volume of the sphere they "drew" using the length of their arm span.

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  Create your own graphing chalkboard

Independent Activities for Middle-Schoolers[edit | edit source]

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  A Sundial for Zane Middle School Campus. Students can use the same method used in this project to create a sundial out of cardboard, paper, or some other material, to learn about the relationshiop between the unit circle, space, and time.

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  "Free Shot Physics" is an activity that uses the action of bouncing a ball (basketball, baseball, tennis ball, etc.) to teach students how to calculate the kinetic energy of the ball.

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  This K-12 Portable Sundial Project is similar to that of the Zane Middle School Sundial, but on a smaller scale. This project is meant to be small enough to be worn on the wrist as a gag or joke, like in the photo.

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  A Week of Inspirational Math: 5 Days of Lessons

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  Design Inspired by Nature: Biomimicry and Ratios Activity. This activity shows the advantages of biomimicry in real world applications and demonstrates the mathematic relation between all biomimicry designs via the Fibonacci Sequence (aka the Golden Ratio).

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  The "Measuring and Graphing Velocity Kinesthetic Activity" helps students learn to calculate and graph the average velocity of a group of students walking,jogging, or running at various speeds.

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  The Loop de Loop Rollercoaster apparatus demonstrates a practical application of Newton's second law of motion, as well as concepts of centripetal acceleration and conservation of energy.

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  The Inclined Planes experiment is designed to slide objects down an angular plane with different friction force cutouts such as a metal slate, carpet ruminant, and a rectangle of wood.

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  The Balloon Rocket is an apparatus that demonstrates Newton's Third Law of Motion, which states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

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  The Fibonacci in nature activity is an activity that has students go on a "scavenger hunt" for whatever they can find in nature with a spiral. Students are then shown the relation between the objects they found vie the Fibonacci Sequence. Students are then led through an activity of calculating and drawing their own Fibonacci Sequence.

Activities for Middle-Schoolers with Adults[edit | edit source]

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  A Sundial for Zane Middle School Campus. Students can use the same method used in this project to create a sundial out of cardboard, paper, or some other material, to learn about the relationshiop between the unit circle, space, and time.

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  This "Zane Middle School Ooutdoor Math Classroom" is a project conducted by a group of Engineering 215 students from Cal Poly Humboldt in which they constructed a number line and grid system outdoors for students to use. Students can stand on certain points of the number line and grid to have outdoor math lessons. This can be recreated with chalk or with pen and paper at your own home.

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  This K-12 Portable Sundial Project is similar to that of the Zane Middle School Sundial, but on a smaller scale. This project is meant to be small enough to be worn on the wrist as a gag or joke, like in the photo.

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  A Week of Inspirational Math: 5 Days of Lessons. This is a short program that lasts five days where students learn cool and inspirational math concepts through various activities. Content can vary depending on what the parent or teacher chooses to include in the five day lessons

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  Design Inspired by Nature: Biomimicry and Ratios Activity. This activity shows the advantages of biomimicry in real world applications and demonstrates the mathematic relation between all biomimicry designs via the Fibonacci Sequence (aka the Golden Ratio).

• 

  The "Measuring and Graphing Velocity Kinesthetic Activity" helps students learn to calculate and graph the average velocity of a group of students walking,jogging, or running at various speeds.

• 

  The Fibonacci in nature activity is an activity that has students go on a "scavenger hunt" for whatever they can find in nature with a spiral. Students are then shown the relation between the objects they found vie the Fibonacci Sequence. Students are then led through an activity of calculating and drawing their own Fibonacci Sequence.

• 

  "Drawing With Light: Sphere Circumference, Surface Area, and Volume" is an activity that shows students how to "draw with light" by lowering the shutter speed of a camera or phone. Students are asked to "draw" a sphere by holding two light sources in each hand and move in a certain way shown in a video on this activity page, and they are then asked to calculate the circumference, surface area, and volume of the sphere they "drew" using the length of their arm span.

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  "The Pendulum Wave Machine is a device meant to provide educational value regarding the function of basic wave patterns."

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  "The purpose of this project is to educate middle school level students on the basics of chemistry and physical science through desalination."

How to create and add your project[edit | edit source]

Creating your page

Type the name of your project in the space below, and click the "create project page" button. This will auto-fill your wiki page with coding and instructions on how to build your page. If you're unsure of what we mean by coding, feel free to click the "edit" button at the top of this current page. This will show you all of the coding used to create this page. Below the "create project page" button is a link to the help page.

We recommend these guidelines for creating a new activity to post to this page

1. Keep it simpl - If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. -A.Einstein
2. Keep it interesting for middle-school students - This could mean a balance between letting the student grasp at a concept themselves while also being mindful of confusing language.
3. Keep it visual - This is a good place to practice creativity!
4. Keep it relevant to the 6th-8th grade math curriculum - These lessons need to apply to what students are learning in school. Here is a link to California's Common Core State Standards for 6th-8th grade math: California CCSS. Pages 40-52 are related to 6th-8th grade math education.

Create your own Appropedia page for a activity your create and want to add to the Middle School Math Activities!

Need help creating or formatting your own activity page?

• Follow this link to see detailed instructions and templates.
• Once you have your project page created, click the "edit" button on the top this page. Once you are in the edit screen for this page, look for the Projects section. There will be further instructions there in the edit screen to walk you through the short process.
• See the Appropedia help tab for more.