Check out December’s featured resources – seasonal lessons, subject area content, and some of our staff favorites too! 

The Melting of Sea Ice

Grade(s): 9

Subject(s): ELA, Science

In The Story of Melting Ice, students read and evaluate the science behind the melting of sea ice in the Arctic. They’ll read a scientific article written by scientists and edited by students their age, rank the virus’s actions as it tries to survive, and finally write a Science Explainer – informative writing – for a younger audience.

NextLesson is proud to share and promote Frontiers for Young Minds in its mission to bring free readable and accessible science to students around current discoveries and core concepts. We especially love the student empowerment we see as Frontiers for Young Minds encourages students to be real-world science editors.

You Wanna Build A Snowman?

Grade(s): 9, 10

Subject(s): Math

Turn your frozen classroom into a geometric extravaganza! Students will take a snowball fight to a whole new level when they argue over how to determine the volume of the white orb.

In “Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway”, students brainstorm ways to determine the volume of a sphere that is whole. Then, students will examine a variety of different snow balls, use given circumference measurement, determine the radius and use the radius to estimate the volume of the sphere. In “Fixer Upper”, students apply previous thinking and determine volumes of multi-sphered snowmen to decide which has the biggest overall volume. In “You Wanna Build a Snowman?”, (weather permitting) teams of students will be tasked to build a snowman. The challenge is to see which team can create the snowman with the largest estimated volume. This is of course estimations (if you live somewhere that doesn’t snow, feel free to do this out of white play-dough or a similar matter).

You (or the class) will evaluate the “roundness” of the spheres. Each team will be given a roundness multiplier from 0.1 to 1.0. Teams will use a tape measure to estimate the circumference of each ball. They will use this information to calculate their estimated volume and sketch a drawing of their snowman. Teams will multiply their estimated volume by their roundness multiplier to calculate their final score. You can decide a winner!

Holly Jolly Trig – Part 2

Grade(s): 9

Subject(s): Math

Ho Ho Ho. Bring holiday cheer into the math classroom with a Santa-inspired Pythagorean Theorem and Distance project. Santa has come down with an untimely hamstring injury just days before Christmas Eve and is causing all sorts of triangular chaos.

In “The Workshop”, students will engage in some higher order thinking to develop strategies for solving applied problems.

Complete all three parts of the Holly Jolly Trig project to send Santa on the shortest route in the least amount of time.

3D Printing Revolution

Grade(s): 9, 10

Subject(s): ELA, Science

3D printing is commonly used to create real-world objects from digital models and so far, it has been used mostly in industry and manufacturing. However, new research has shown that 3D printing has potential in the biomedical, medical, and prosthetic fields using cutting edge plastics, polymers, and even cells.

Students will learn the basic concept of 2D vs. 3D printing and how it is being used in medicine to print various pieces of anatomy. Students will be exposed to useful inventions in the 3D printing world from informative news articles and videos, and be able to brainstorm their own ideas for items that could be made on a 3D printer. Students will use teamwork, critical thinking, brainstorming, and design skills to create an object that they think can be produced on a 3D printer as their final product.

Angry Penguins

Grade(s): 10, 11, 12

Subject(s): Math

In American culture, people have an affinity for launching birds, pheasants, and other sorts of fowl at oblivious targets with a slingshot. From where does this fascination come? Nobody knows.

Nonetheless, it makes for an interesting quadratic function application. Are you ready to help out costumed penguins extract centuries of revenge against those slap-happy menacing predators –- the seals? Of course, you are.

Piecewise functions are often one of the more conceptually challenging for students. Through this manipulative and engaging activity, students will have a much stronger understanding of this concept. And, they will POOF some seals.

In Parabolic Destruction – Students begin to practice using quadratic equations and maneuvering the quadratic cut-outs. In Piecewise Power-Ups – Students are introduced to different functions and must construct piecewise functions to POOF seals. In Angry Penguins – Students will use the parent functions to determine the piecewise functions that go through specific points. There are five levels in all. Finally, in Build Your Own Angry Penguins Level – Students will choose their penguins (functions) and plan their attack!

My Dream Car

Grade(s): 9, 10, 11

Subject(s): Math

In My Dream Car, students use data from automobile manufacturers to practice writing linear equations with variables and evaluating linear equations for specific values. As bloggers, they are exploring the 72 month total cost of ownership of an automobile. This performance task has editions for 6 different cars including Ford, Toyota, and Subaru.

The Story of Antibiotics

Grade(s): 9, 10, 11, 12

Subject(s): ELA, Science

In The Story of Antibiotics, students read and evaluate the science behind the development of antibiotics. They’ll read a scientific article edited written by scientists and edited by students their age, rank the stages of development by importance, and finally write a Science Explainer – informative writing – for a younger audience.

NextLesson is proud to share and promote Frontiers for Young Minds in its mission to bring free readable and accessible science to students around current discoveries and core concepts. We especially love the student empowerment we see as Frontiers for Young Minds encourages students to be real-world science editors.