Calculator Lessons from Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments' proven solutions for education are based on years of experience working with educational leaders, constant teacher feedback, and accepted pedagogical standards. Our total solution offers educators support programs, activities, and course-specific professional development to help them successfully integrate our technology into the classroom. Over the next several months, we invite you to investigate some of our teacher-created activities for math and science using the TI-73 Explorer. To find out more about TI's solution for the middle grades and sign up to win a FREE TI-73 Explorer visit: http://education.ti.com/educationworld.

NEW LESSONS IN 2005

Lesson Planning Resources Lesson Plan of the Day A new lesson every day of the school year. Learning Games A new game each week for fun and learning.   Fact Monster Printable activity builds students research, literacy skills.   New for KIDS Printable activity spurs discussion, critical thinking.   Writing Bugs Printable student work sheets motivate student writing. Show-Biz Science Vicki Cobb's hands-on science showstoppers. Teacher Lessons Dozens of lessons. Submit yours, earn cash. 5-Minute Fillers Use these fun quick-tivities! Tech Lesson of the Week Integrate technology with step-by-step lessons.  Geography Build skills with these printables. Geography A to Z Mystery State   Where's Mrs. Waffenschmidt? Book Report Makeover Ideas for spicing up boring book reports.   Reader's Theater Scripts And teachers' guides too.   Holidays and Special Days Hundreds of great themed teaching ideas. Every-Day Edits Printable sheets for daily language practice. Math Puzzles: Choose from two printable puzzles: It All Adds Up Basic addition, a fun format. Math Cross Try a challenging weekly puzzle. Lesson Plans By Subject View lesson themes of special interest. Work Sheet Library 100s of work sheets for all subjects, grades. More Printables Internet Scavenger Hunts Timely computer center activities. Coloring Calendars Use them to reinforce skills.  Month of Fun Games and puzzles for each month's special days. Contests & Competitions Special opportunities for student learning. Message Boards Join the conversation! Free Newsletters Ed World offers Lesson Plan newsletter, eight more! More Resources Dont miss our Template Library (including graphic organizers, printable certificates, more) and these other features: Behavior Management Tips Best Idea Ever Calculator Lessons Classroom Management Tips Strategies That Work

That's a Stretch
In this activity, students explore elasticity by looking at the relationship between the stretch of a spring and the number of weights in a cup suspended from the spring. Students will use their TI-73 Explorer to find values for x and y and then plot points to find the line of best fit.

Off to the Races
In this activity, students take a look into the world of thoroughbred racing. They will use the Probability Simulation App on their TI-73 Explorers to investigate factors that affect the outcome of a horse race.

Let's Settle This
In this activity, students will perform an experiment to simulate sediment deposition in still water. Using a TI-73 Explorer, CBL 2, and light sensor, students will be able to look for connections between the way water settles in the experiment and the process by which sediment settles out of the Mississippi River to form costal wetlands.

The New Color of Money
In this activity, students use a graphing calculator to create a graph of all possible combinations of $1 bills and $20 bills that could be used to make a total of $130 million. The activity provides students an opportunity to create a scatter plot of various combinations of U.S. currency and then generate an equation to represent the data.

ADDITIONAL CALCULATOR LESSONS

It's Greek to Me
In this activity, students will review finding the Greatest Common Factor using prime factorization and listing. They will investigate Euclid's algorithm of finding GCF and compare it to methods already learned.

Go for the Gold
In this activity, students will explore and use the concept of ratio in a real-world situation. They will make judgments regarding accuracy and precision of measurement.

Nutria and the Disappearing Marsh
In this activity, students will examine changes in the nutria population, vegetation density, and marsh area over time. They will use data from the National Wetlands Research Center and your TI-73 Explorer to graph and analyze the effects of nutria on marsh loss. Click here for a Nutria activity for students.

Land Erosion-Does Vegetation Matter?
In this activity, students will collect runoff from two simulated sites: 1) a tray with soil, 2) a tray with grass covered sod, to see how vegetation affects erosion. They will use a turbidity sensor, a TI-73 Explorer, and a CBL 2 or LabPro to compare and examine the runoff from the sites. Click here for a Land Erosion activity for students.

Taste Test
Students will taste test three unlabeled brands of cola, lemon-lime, and non-cola drinks. They use their sample data to create pictographs, bar graphs, and pie graphs.

Collect All Ten to Win!
Students simulate a contest that requires participants to collect 10 different tokens found in the bottom of specially marked cereal boxes. They will determine the average number of cereal boxes a person must buy in order to "collect all ten to win."

The U.S. Constitution
In this activity, students use flashcards on their TI handhelds to sort and categorize the 27 amendments to the Constitution; they analyze and rewrite 10 of them in their own words. (Click here for an alternative, pencil-and-paper version of the lesson.)

Tropical Forests: Cleaning the Air?
In this activity, students measure the CO2 level in a bottle that contains spinach leaves when it is exposed to light. They collect CO2 data and observe the effects of photosynthesis as they add leaves to the bottle.

How Does Blubber Work?
Students appreciate how California sea lions and northern elephant seals stay warm by performing an experiment in which blubber is simulated with shortening, heat loss data is collected, and data comparisons are shown.

Landform Geography
Students use flashcards on their TI handhelds to create a book and construct a mural to illustrate their knowledge of earth landforms. (Click here for an alternative, pencil-and-paper version of the lesson.)

Warm Water: A Good Thing?
Aquatic animals and plants are sensitive to temperature changes. Students perform an experiment at a local aquatic site to measure air and water temperature.

The Greenhouse Effect a Good Thing?
Scientists debate whether carbon dioxide is responsible for global warming. In this activity, students model the greenhouse effect. They compare temperature changes from a heat source in the open air and two containers (one with more greenhouse gases than the other).

Factors Galore: Common Factors
Students simplify fractions and investigate common factors and the greatest common factor of the numerator and denominator.

Graphing Motion and Forces
Students calculate the speed of banana racers based on their distance and time traveled. Then they create a graph to represent data they collected. Also: Exploring the vocabulary of the science of motion.

Graphing Ordered Pairs
Students begin the activity by entering data into lists on their TI-73 Explorer calculators. The x- and y-coordinates will be graphed as scatter plots that make rectangles. Lesson extension: Students create their own polygons.

Candy Caper
Students estimate the number of candies in six different containers. They compare their estimates to the actual number of candies in each container and determine the relationship between those two numbers.