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Idaho Region 2 educators:
Math Modeling Task Libraries
Math Modeling Task Libraries
Fermi Problems |K-12th| - Enrico Fermi was a mathematician who made educated guesses about hard-to-quantify situations -- for example "how long would it take to actually count to one million?" The linked site is one of many that outlines a great list of "Fermi" problems or prompts that can be used as the foundation for modeling tasks. These are not indexed by grade level or standard, but these are great examples to help you identify your own questions you might prompt your students to ask.
Illustrative Mathematics Modeling Prompts for Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2, include a solid framework for presenting modeling tasks tailored to the needs of students, as well as about 9-12 modeling prompts per course and when to use them.
Connecting Industry to Math Instruction (CIMI) Activities - Free - An NSF-funded project with professional-quality context videos from industry professionals, lesson plans, desmos activities, and activity sheets. Categories include functions, trigonometry, statistics, modeling, and matrices. Often includes growth mindset language and focus on mathematical practices from industry folks and students. Actively advertises enrollment at Wake Tech College in the videos.
Balanced Assessment in Mathematics Project |K-12th| - From 1993 to 2003, the Balanced Assessment in Mathematics Program existed at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The library of over 300 mathematics assessment tasks developed during the project remains freely available through this website, and are generally "thinking" or modeling tasks as opposed to "routine" or "procedural" tasks. For 7-12, this "Look High & Low" Task is a great modeling task example.
COMAP Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications free educator resources (now at mathmodels.org) - includes teacher and student resources for project-based modeling tasks and units. For example, Invasive Species A Module in Planning for Sustainability (Teacher), includes teacher planning materials, student workbooks, a career and college planning section on "jobs that use skills learned in this module," vocabulary and research printouts, a slide deck for the paramecium growth simulation, NGSS, CCSM, standards. Most of the projects have both math and science standards included, and some also include CCSE. Projects and units are not all designed with the same format and are of varying quality. Free membership required to access some resources.
Math Works Modeling Challenge Archive Free - Each year, M3C hosts a contest for teams of high-school students with real-world modeling prompts. Click on the years at the top of the page to see the prompts for each year (and the winning responses). The prompts are well-defined if you click on "The Problem" on the right-hand side of the page for each year. They pay all-expenses for the finalist teams to attend the conference and present their projects each year.
The "Mathematical Modeling Handbook" was created at Teachers College in response to the release of the CCSSM. It contains about two dozen modeling activities with student worksheets and teacher material. Each activity brings students through the process of modeling, starting with providing a modeling situation and a “leading question” for the students to answer with the model. (backup link)
Small Group Mathematical Modeling (SGMM) @ Purdue outlines some upper high school or college level Model Eliciting Activities (MEAS) focused on engineering principles.
Pedagogy in Action provides Model Eliciting Activities (MEAs) that are focused on statistical concepts and can be adapted for junior high, high school, and college-level instruction.
Ohio State Mathematics Modeling and Reasoning Course Pilot has an interesting Scope and Sequence for a modeling focused course and offers free training and support to any teachers willing to travel for initial training.
PBLWorks Project Library and Project Designer via the Buck Institute for Education - While a few of the math PBL resources are free, most of the 72 "gold-standard" projects require paying $40 for the "Project Designer" to access. PBLWorks really is the gold standard for successful PBL design: many colleges use their model and materials when teaching project-based learning models to pre-service teachers. Example free project: Planning for the Future.
Defined Learning PBL - A paid project library that includes well-organized, cross-curricular PBL projects and units (such as this Zip-line design project).
Secondary Math PBI |6th - 12th| - For folks who have a purchased copy of the book "Implementing Problem-Based Instruction in Secondary Mathematics Classrooms", this site gives around 20 example projects and resources as outlined in the book, sorted by 6-12 course then by concept. The framework they use is heavily influence by PBL works, but brings some unique ideas to the table as well.
4-12 Pi Day Resources from NASA Jet Propulsion Labs |4th-12th| - Filter by 4-6, 7-8, or 9-12 tasks by clicking on the headers at the top right of the banner. Includes some really nice modeling tasks in the math and engineering sections, or some more guided quick tasks that are grounded in REAL math that NASA engineers do. The index of the "Pi Day Challenges" has some good projects that would last more than one class period.
CTE Math Curricular Materials
CTE Math Curricular Materials
Mathematics Lessons for High School Career and Technical Education - Includes some teacher/student materials for tasks in Automotive/Diesel Technology, Culinary Arts, Health Occupations, Law Enforcement, and Welding. Created by an Idaho Math teacher at Cossa Academy.
Videos Showing Math In Professional Workplaces
Videos Showing Math In Professional Workplaces
Idaho Public Television "Math at Work" |6-12th| - A series of videos related to real jobs in Idaho (YouTube link). Aligned lesson plans will be created starting in fall 2025. Part of a larger collection of Idaho Jobs Explained videos hosted by Matt Baltzell. The lessons were created and tested in the BSU MoDAL program. Only forestry has a video as of October 2025, but more coming soon!
Get the Math |6-12th| - Videos and lesson plans of industry professionals showing students how they use math in their jobs. Includes a 2-day lesson plan and videos for music, fashion, basketball, special fx, and restaurants. M3C materials.
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