This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about converting centimeters to millimeters.
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about converting feet to yards.
This task gives students word problems with a given a set of a specified size and a specified number of subsets. The questions ask the student to find out the size of each of the subsets.
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to give fifth graders an overview of comparison of capacity (gallons, pints, and quarts).
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about converting gallons and quarts into cups.
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about converting inches to feet.
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about converting inches to yards.
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about converting kilograms and grams into grams.
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about converting miles to feet.
This challenging problem and brainteaser gives first graders an opportunity to compose and decompose squares.
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach third graders an overview of capacity (english units).
Our team of experts is excited to share with you their favorite tips and tricks about how to access and use Census Bureau Data.
So we created the Data Gems: a series of "how-to" videos available for data users who are looking for an easy and quick way to enhance their knowledge of Census data.
They will introduce you to various concepts and techniques to improve your ability to navigate our website and use our data-access tools.
We hope you find these Gems valuable! Drop us a line at census.academy@census.gov and let us know what you think!
Unit 8: Data Sets and Distributions
Lesson 8: Describing Distributions on Histograms
In this lesson, students explore various shapes and features of a distribution displayed in a histogram. They use the structure (MP7) to look for symmetry, peaks, clusters, gaps, and any unusual values in histograms. Students also begin to consider how these features might affect how we characterize a data set. For example, how might we describe what is typical in a distribution that shows symmetry? What about in a distribution that has one peak that is not symmetrical? This work is informal, but helps to prepare students to better understand measures of center and spread later in the unit. Students also distinguish between the uses and construction of bar graphs and histograms in this lesson.
Unit: Area and Surface Area
Lesson 19: Designing a Tent
In this culminating lesson, students use what they learned in this unit to design a tent and determine how much fabric is needed for the tent. The task prompts students to model a situation with the mathematics they know, make assumptions, and plan a path to solve a problem (MP4). It also allows students to choose tools strategically (MP5) and to make a logical argument to support their reasoning (MP3).
The lesson has two parts. In the first part, students learn about the task, gather information, and begin designing. The introduction is important to ensure all students understand the context. Then, after answering some preparatory questions in groups and as a class, students work individually to design and draw their tents. They use their knowledge of area and surface area to calculate and justify an estimate of the amount of fabric needed for their design.
The second part involves reflection and discussion of students’ work. Students explain their work to a partner or small group, discuss and compare their designs, and consider the impact of design decisions on the surface areas of their tents.
Depending on instructional choices made, this lesson could take one or more class meetings. The time estimates are intentionally left blank, as the time needed will vary based on instructional decisions made. It may depend on:
whether students use the provided information about tents and sleeping bags or research this information.
whether the Tent Design Planning Sheet is provided or students organize their work with more autonomy.
expectations around drafting, revising, and the final product.
how student work is ultimately shared with the class (not at all, informally, or with formal presentations).
Note: Students will need to bring in a personal collection of 10–50 small objects ahead of time for the first lesson of the next unit. Examples include rocks, seashells, trading cards, or coins.
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach second graders about using real maps (english lengths and distances).
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to give fifth graders an overview of capacity - word problems.
Unit 8: Data Sets and Distributions
Lesson 11: Deviation from the Mean
In a previous lesson, students computed and interpreted distances of data points from the mean. In this lesson, they take that experience to make sense of the formal idea of mean absolute deviation (MAD). Students learn that the MAD is the average distance of data points from the mean. They use their knowledge of how to calculate and interpret the mean to calculate (MP8) and interpret (MP2) the MAD.
Students also learn that we think of the MAD as a measure of variability or a measure of spread of a distribution. They compare distributions with the same mean but different MADs, and recognize that the centers are the same but the distribution with the larger MAD has greater variability or spread.
Through this lesson and its two associated activities, students are introduced to the use of geometry in engineering design, and conclude by making scale models of objects of their choice. The practice of developing scale models is often used in engineering design to analyze the effectiveness of proposed design solutions. In this lesson, students complete fencing (square) and fire pit (circle) word problems on two worksheets—which involves side and radius dimensions, perimeters, circumferences and areas—guiding them to discover the relationships between the side length of a square and its area, and the radius of a circle and its area. They also think of real-world engineering applications of the geometry concepts.
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about distances between points on multiple routes (metric units).
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about measurement: greater than or less than a yard?.