“Jump” is an example of an activity that would be appropriate for most middle school students.  Rather than analyzing a list of meaningless numbers from the textbook, students can take ownership in the activity because they are obtaining real data points.  Obtaining, organizing, displaying, and evaluating data are key elements of Standard 6: Data Analysis and Probability found in Indiana's Academic Standards for mathematics.  (T.H.)

Activity: Newton's Law of Cooling
http://www.peel.edu.on.ca/~sss/Projects/cbl/NewtonLawCool.htm
Students analyze how the temperature of the surrounding environment affects the cooling of warm objects.  They verify the mathematical model derived by Newton.

This activity would be appropriate as part of unit made up of direct and indirect proportions.  The rate of cooling of a warm object is directly proportional to the temperature difference between the object and the surrounding environment.  The activity also provides the added bonus of allowing the students to verify an equation.  Frequently, students are given an equation and contrived data with instructions to solve for a variable.  This activity allows students to realize that equations describing laws really do work.  (T.H.)

Activity: Who Dropped the Bag?
http://mason.gmu.edu/~mmankus/cbl/posaccel.pdf
Each group of students stuffs a bag with newspapers.  Using the motion detector, they are able to view the motion of the falling bag in the form of a graph.  Students interpret the velocity of the bag as it falls and determine if it accelerates.

Review: An appropriate activity for calculus, “Who Dropped the Bag?” provides a visual approach to understanding acceleration due to gravity and the resulting changes in velocity.  The activity would be appropriate as an introduction to a unit discussing position, velocity, and acceleration or as post-unit lab.  As an introductory activity, it would promote guided discovery learning and intuitive thinking.  Students would reinforce their findings in their study of position, velocity, and acceleration.  If the activity is used a post-unit lab, the students could reinforce their mathematical knowledge with this more visual approach.  (This page also contains numerous activities involving motion and velocity in addition to notes on how to use the CBL, TI82/83.)  (T.H.)

Activities: Pennies, Pressure, Temperature, and Light
http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/mathline/lessonplans/pdf/hsmp/penniespressure.pdf
Pennies, Pressure, Temperature, and Light is part of The High School Math Project – Focus on Algebra.  This online booklet includes various activities that explore inverse functions. All activities require data analysis; some require the students to organize and display data.  The booklet contains activities requiring different levels of technological resources. Equipment set-up procedures, diagrams, programs, experimental procedures, and conclusion questions are included in this resource.  (T.H.)

Activity: Wet Heads
http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/mathline/lessonplans/pdf/msmp/wetheads.pdf
In this activity students determine the number of drops of water that can fit on the head of a penny.  Students use a stem-and-leaf diagram to analyze the data.

"Wet Heads" is a useful activity to use in a statistics unit.  Indiana's Academic Standards requires students to be familiar with various methods of organizing data, including the stem-and-leaf diagrams, by the end of the sixth grade.  Eye droppers and pennies are the primary supplies for the core activity; consequently, it would be appropriate for a variety of different grade levels and classroom situations.  Furthermore, an emphasis can be placed on critical thinking skills by having students analyze the range of values and discuss possible reasons for the variations such as pipette size or the wear of the penny.  (T.H.)

Topic: The Golden Ratio
http://www.geom.umn.edu/~demo5337/s97b/
This web page provides an introduction to the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio.  The page provides information about the the Fibonacci sequence in nature, discovery of the Golden Ratio, and the Golden Ratio in art.  In addition, the page includes several activities that incorporate measuring, shapes, and sequences.

Review: The page provides a brief introduction to a variety of the subtopics related to the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio.  Consequently, it is a good resource for any person needing a quick refresher course on the topics.  The page is also student-friendly and includes some basic sample calculations and access to the answers.  Exploration of the Golden Ratio provides opportunities for a variety of different hands-on lessons.  For example, students could measure a variety of everyday rectangles such as index cards or sheets of paper to look for evidence of the Golden Ratio.  The human body also has several ratios consistent with the Golden Ratio.  Lessons could also incorporate correct use of significant figures, graphing of data, and slope.

A more detailed examination of the Fibonacci numbers and their relationships to nature is located at http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibnat.html.

A list of the human body's Golden Ratios is located at http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~winkler/ratioprocedures.html.  (T.H.)

Activity: What Causes the Seasons?
IMAP://imap.saintjoe.edu?fetch>UID>.INBOX>2193/;section=2&part=1.2

Activity:  Problem Solving Island
http://www.math.grin.edu/~rebelsky/ProblemSolving/index.html
A whole site devoted to different and challenging open-ended word problems on the topics of games and puzzles.

Review:  These are great “critical-thinking” exercises that will challenge students.  My thoughts in including this website were to take a few of the problems and have the students solve them.  Then have the students use the CBL to conduct structured experiments and develop their own open-ended word problems for the rest of their class to solve.  This particular project would be great at helping students to develop their story problem solving skills. (S.M.)

Activity:  The Derivation of Pi
http://www.highland.madison.k12.il.us/jbasden/lessons/pi_3_14159265358.html
Students will be able to determine, based on various measurements, that circumference divided by diameter is approximately 3.14159265358 (pi).  Therefore, students can make a real life connection by seeing that pi applies to many objects, not just perfect examples in math books.

Review:  This project would be very useful to a geometry class.  There is no limit to what the students could measure.  This would help them begin to see how the value for pi was determined and that it was not just a number drawn from a hat.  The website about Curious and Useful Math facts would be a great addition to this project.  (S.M.)

Activity:  Sonic Booms and Logarithms
http://daniel.calpoly.edu/~dfrc/Robin/Sonic/sonic.html
Students will learn about a logarithmic functional relationship.  Students will also be given practice with working with the symbolic notation for logarithms while learning about sonic booms and the decibel scale, which is a logarithmic scale. 

Review:  This would be a fun way to tie in real-life applications to mathematics.  The teacher is provided with all the materials needed right on the website.  Students could begin to understand logarithms immediately upon completion of this activity.  (S.M.)

Activity:  Curious and Useful Math
http://personal.cfw.com/~clayford/
Here you will find tricks and rules for quickly calculating certain types of math problems.  There are also some entertaining trivia and math facts.

Review:  Some of the topics on this site may help to “beef up” a project.  These are more enrichment-based activities that would help students with their everyday classroom work.  I especially enjoyed the Square Roots by Hand section. (S.M.)

Activity:  Circles of Light: The Mathematics of Rainbows
http://www.geom.umn.edu/education/calc-init/rainbow/
How are rainbows formed?  Why do they only occur when the sun is behind the observer?  If the sun is low on the horizon, at what angle in the sky should we expect to see a rainbow?  This lab helps to answer these and other questions by examining a mathematical model of light passing through a water droplet.

Review:  This activity could be used as a project for a pre-calculus or calculus classroom.  Students can relate a natural phenomenon to mathematical calculations.  The lab will cover light and how light travels, reflection, refraction, and an analysis of rainbows.  Applications with prisms could also be used with this project. (S.M.)

Resource: CBL Made Easy!
http://www.cci.unl.edu/calculators/pdf/CBL-Easy.pdf
CBL Made Easy! is a 34-page on-line manual that outlines how to use the CBL system in five steps.  The manual details how to load programs onto the computer and calculator, connect the hardware, collect data, and send graphs and data to the computer. CBL Made Easy! also includes various appendices containing useful troubleshooting and Vernier information.  (T.H.)

Resource:  So you're thinking about using CBL…
http://www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/ltdi/useitdir/so_you.htm
Description:  This website explains what teaching scholars will need to consider before trying to use CBLs with their projects.  It is a type of guided learning worksheet designed to help us organize our thoughts and projects.  It includes discussion of such questions as: 

• What are the broad aims of the course or module?
• What are your own aims and objectives in considering using IT in your teaching?
• What benefits can using technology in teaching bring to me as a lecturer?
• What benefits can CBL deliver to my students?
• Things you should consider about hardware provision.
• A few initial problems you may encounter.

Resource:  CBL Data Recovery Technologies, Inc.
http://www.cbltech.com/index.html
Description:  CBL Data Recovery: World-renowned experts at recovering data lost due to file corruption, mechanical or electrical failure, virus activity, and more. 

Review:  This site will be helpful in the case that we are in the middle of our project/activity and something goes wrong on the technical side of things.  Instead of giving up, or starting over, it is possible that our data can be retrieved. (S.M.)

Texas Instruments Educational Site

Vernier Probes

Black Gold:  (Contains links to materials for using calculators and CBL)
 

19 Possible Math Projects with a Geometry Theme
http://camel.math.ca/Education/mpsf/node6.html#SECTION00060000000000000000
Review:  These different projects could get a teacher started on building an entire lesson. (S.M.)

Geometry Center
This site is maintained by the Center for the Computation and  Visualization of Geometric Structures  at the University of Minnesota.  The Center  has a unified mathematics computing environment supporting math and  computer science research,
mathematical visualization, software  development, application development, video animation production, and K-16 math education. 

Chance Database: Hands on Activities for Probability and Statistics
This site contains materials to help teach  a "Chance" course. Chance is a quantitative literacy course developed and maintained by J. Laurie Snell and Peter Doyle of Dartmouth College.  A primary goal of "Chance"-type courses is to make students more informed, critical readers of current news stories that use probability and statistics.  At this site are archived copies ChanceNews (monthly newsletter), a collection of  video and audio lectures, syllabi of previous Chance Courses, and teaching aids.  This site is highly recommended for ideas for probability and statistics activities. 

Rock Around the Clock (probability activity)

Wet Heads (statistics activity)

Laboratory Manual for Calculus

The Math Forum

Mathematical Archives (highly recommended)
Maintained by Drexel University, The Math Forum is  great source for mathematics and mathematics education on the Internet. Its stated mission is "to provide resources, materials, activities, person-to-person  interactions, and educational products and
services that enrich and support teaching and learning in an increasingly technological world."   Interesting features include "Ask Dr. Math", and "Problems of the Week"  (archived also), and the Forum's Teacher Exchange (contributed lessons).

Mathematics Pronunciation Guide
From the University of Wisconsin Colleges Mathematics Department, this site contains pronunciations for many mathematical terms and names of mathematicians. 

IFORS Educational Initiative

PBS source for teachers (very well done and extensive)

Thinkquest

Cut-The-Knot

Getsmarter.org

MathWorld (Most highly recommended!)
Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics (MathWorld), sponsored by Wolfram Research (Mathematica), is "a comprehensive and interactive mathematics  encyclopedia intended for students, educators, math enthusiasts, and researchers. Like the vibrant and constantly evolving discipline of mathematics, this site is continuously updated to include new material and incorporate new discoveries."   Most highly recommended!

Mathematics Journals: Implementing a Journal Writing Program...
http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~mathed/t/rc/jour/JOURNAL.HTM

Description:  This website covers the more practical day-to-day concerns of starting and maintaining a successful journal writing program in a mathematics class.

Review:  There is quite a bit of information that would be helpful in having our students write about their experiences with our projects.  The site gives advice on the benefits of journal writing, when to write, what to write, how to encourage writing, responding and evaluating, and journal writing prompts. (S.M.)

A Guide to Writing in Mathematics Classes
http://www.fandm.edu/Departments/Mathematics/writing_in_math/guide.html#secl

Description:  This website explains why you should have to write papers in a math class, how mathematical writing is different from other types of writing, and good phrases to use in math papers.

Review:  More information to help us inspire our students to write and to explain to the students why mathematical writing is so important. (S.M.)

Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics)

Indiana's Academic Standards for Teachers of Mathematics (Teacher's Edition)

Indiana's Academic Standards for Teachers of Science (Teacher's Edition)

Indiana Department of Education