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Math is a key element of STEM education. At the primary and secondary education levels, it is essential students improve their math literacy and exercise the ability to connect these concepts to the real world. As parents and educators, there are ways to get middle school students engaged in math-focused STEM activities that help increase their comprehension and retention.
This article includes ten (10) math activities for middle school students that can be implemented in the classroom or at home.
Calculating volume is a key math concept children learn at the middle school level. To make this activity more engaging, parents and educators can use varying sizes of candy bars to facilitate a volume lesson. Students will be tasked with calculating the volume of each candy bar. Once a parent or educator has confirmed their answer is correct, children can eat their candy bar. This hands-on lesson is a rewarding, beneficial way for students to improve their math skills.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt offers three (3) lessons for middle school students that help them use their math skills to better understand financial concepts. The goal of these lessons is to help students better understand how the math lessons they are learning connect to the real world. These lessons around financial literacy are also meant to help students make smart choices in the future and have a better understanding of real world concepts as they go into high school and beyond!
Math Game Time is a free online resource for K-12 children who are looking to improve their math skills through online games. The Otter Rush Exponents game is for middle school students who are looking to test and improve their ability to use exponents in complex math equations. Through this hands-on, online game, students will improve their exponent skills and their ability to quickly solve problems using mental math.
Ratios are an essential part of a middle school student’s curriculum. The learning ratio through the baking activity linked below can be followed exactly or tweaked to better connect to your child and/or family’s dietary restrictions. The goal of the lesson is to have children troubleshoot how to double, triple, or quadruple the recipe depending on the necessary servings. They will be tasked with seeing how each ingredient’s quantity changes depending on how the final serving side has changed from the original recipe. This is a great way to take a key concept, such as ratios, and connect it to a common, everyday occurrence like baking. This helps students to see why what they are learning is important and connects to the world around them.
The Functions Unit Math Activity is a Teachers Pay Teachers lesson that aligns with Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Over the course of eight days, students will learn to identify linear vs. non-linear relationships, write, graph, and compare functions, and analyze graphs to gather key takeaways. This lesson would be a great addition to a classroom curriculum, a homeschooling environment, or an at-home learning experience guided by parents.
The Try Your Luck Math game is for 7th grade students who are looking to improve their pre-algebra skills. Throughout this math game, children are tasked with solving algebraic math equations to avoid “monsters” on the board that will send them back to the beginning. This disguised learning method helps students strengthen their math skills, prepare for testing environments, and work on their math literacy skills.
Math board games are a great addition to the classroom curriculum, after school fun with friends, or family game night. The Blobby Pizza Math Board Game promotes friendly competition while children exercise their brains and strengthen their understanding of decimals, fractions, percentages, predictions, and more! Through a hands-on, disguised learning method, children are improving their math literacy, gaining confidence in math, and mastering key math concepts.
Using Red Solo Cups, paper, and ping pong balls, students can break off into teams to practice their multiplication and division skills. Each cup will have a different mathematical equation on it that students have to solve when their ping pong ball falls into that cup. If a student gets the equation right, it is one point for the team and that cup is removed. This can be repeated back and forth as each team tries to land their ball in the cup and answer the math problem correctly. This engaging math lesson helps improve math literacy and promotes the use of mental math in fast-paced, real world settings.
Mathological Liar is a math board game that teaches students key math concepts and 21st-century skills. The goal of the game is for students to use clues to see if the math problem was done correctly or incorrectly – which in this case is phrased as guilty or not guilty of a crime. This engaging, hands-on math game makes the perfect addition to a middle school child’s weekend or classroom education!
Lakeshore offers multiplication times tables that can be written on and hung on walls. These times tables go through 12 and are extremely helpful in students memorizing multiplication times tables. These can be hung throughout the home, in the classroom, or in your child’s bedroom. The goal is for them to see these in their everyday lives. This, in conjunction with practice, will help this become something they can recall at a moment’s notice during an exam on classroom problems.
If you are interested in learning more about how to implement STEM with middle school students, read these blogs:
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