The MPJ Network

Periodically throughout the year, The Math Projects Journal offers new projects and lesson plans to members of the MPJ Network. How do you join this exclusive collection of people passionate for mathematics education? It's easy — simply purchase MPJ's Ultimate Math Lessons and you're in. Then, when a new project is available, you will be notified by email and directed to a special section of this web site.

If you purchased the book online or by phone, then your contact information is already in our database. If you purchased the book through a store or catalog, then just follow the instructions on the last page of the book under "Join the MPJ Network" and you will soon have access to all the goodies.

Just to whet your appetite, here are some of the additional projects available to members:
NOTE: These are not active links. It is just a list of the projects available to members.

Pre-Algebra

	Get Your Kicks on Route 66 (3 pages) Rapid Roy drives the highway to demonstrate that absolute value is the distance from zero. Topics: Absolute value equations and inequalities
	Truffles (8 pages) Boxes of chocolate show students why we combine only LIKE terms. Topics: Representation of quantity, simplifying expressions, solving linear and quadratic equations

Algebra

	Distance Dating (4 pages) Dating people a given distance from your home reveals the relationship between the Pythagorean Theorem and the equations of a circle. Topics: Equation of a circle, Pythagorean Theorem, distance formula
	Get It Out Of Your System (1 pages) Review systems of equations with this game for the whole class. Topics: Review game, systems of equation
	The Great Balancing Act (7 pages) Use a balance beam and fulcrum to illustrate solving equations and proportions. Topics: Solving equations, ratios and proportions, decimal and percents, margin of error
	The House Painter, Part 1 (4 pages) Write and simplify a polynomial that will yield the quantity of stucco required to cover the side of a house. Topics: Adding polynomials
	The House Painter, Part 2 (4 pages) Teach what it means to "distribute the negative" by calculating the quantity of paint required to cover an interior wall (minus the window). Topics: Subtracting polynomials
	The House Painter, Part 3 (5 pages) Allow students to SEE the method for multiplying two binomials by calculating various areas of the interior wall of a house. Topics: Multiplying polynomials
	Mission to Mars (7 pages) Apply quadratics equations to the trajectory of projectiles by launching toy rockets. Topics: Solving quadratic equations
	Number Tricks: Factoring ( pages) Use "pick a number" games to demonstrate that factored expressions yield the same value as their original form. Topics: Simplifying algebraic expressions, factoring
	Number Tricks: Rational Expressions ( pages) Use "pick a number" games to emphasize that simplied rational expressions yield the same value as their original, unsimplified form. Topics: Simplifying algebraic expressions, factoring, rational expressions
	Road Rage: Monster Car Systems (5 pages) The battery operated cars return with a vengence to demonstarte systems in a way the students will never forget. Topics: Solving systems in slope-intercept form; graphing systems; writing equations
	Staircases and Ramps (4 pages) Find the ratio of vertical change to horizontal change in every day structures. Topics: Slope
	Texas Hold 'Em (1 pages) Use a math teacher's version of this wildly popular version of poker to review concepts at the end of a unit or before a test. Topics: Review Game
	Tumbling Cars (2 pages) How steep of an embankment will make a toy car tumble? Topics: Slope

Geometry

	Fence Posts (3 pages) Find corresponding and alternate interior angles in the structures on your campus. Topics: Parallel lines cut by a transversal, corresponding angles, alternate interior and exterior angles, consecutive interior angles, angle measure
	Mother's Attic (4 pages) Use geometric means to in order to calculate heights and lengths while you redecorate your attic. Topics: Geometric Mean, Right Triangle Altitude Theorem, Pythagorean Theorem

Articles

	And I Lived to Tell About It (2 pages) A high school math teacher's day in the elementary classroom teaching both first and fourth grades. Topics: Teaching methodology, fractions, elementary education
	Quantity: The Elusive Cornerstone (2 pages) Why don't students understand the symbolic representation of quantity? Topics: Symbols, variables, algebra