PUMAS Examples
Currently the PUMAS collection contains 93 examples.
The PUMAS examples are aimed primarily at helping pre-college teachers enrich their presentation of topics in math and science.
- You may find a number of examples that relate to your area of interest, perhaps written in different styles, and possibly taking different approaches to the material. There may also be comments/lesson plans filed with some of the examples, written by previous users.
- Use these examples as a resource -- Select, adapt, recontextualize, and present the material to your students in a way that you judge will best meet your students' needs, abilities, and interests.
- You may have ideas related to a particular example that might be helpful to subsequent users. There is an opportunity, on the "Display an Example" page associated with that example, for you to submit your comments/lesson plans.
- PUMAS examples are citable references. If you use material from PUMAS examples in other work, please cite them appropriately, e.g.: Chambers, L.H., "How Now, Pythagoras?", 07_10_98_1, The PUMAS Collection, http://pumas.nasa.gov, 1998.
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This is a good way to start, or to find examples added after a certain date. Click links below to get the list of all the PUMAS Examples, arranged by that field.
Examples by Title
by Grade Level | by Date Accepted | by Keywords | by Benchmarks | by Author
- Algebra Magic - Create Your Own Number Puzzles
- An Example of the Value of Information
- Automatic Windshield Wipers
- Battle Strategies in the Bismarck Sea
- Can an Astronaut on Mars distinguish the Earth from its Moon?
- Coastal Threat: A Story In Unit Conversions
- Color and Spectrum
- Confidence in Medical Tests
- Contouring and Topo Maps
- Corrupted Politicians
- Could a World of Swimmers Raise Sea Level?
- Cross Section and Slope
- Determining the Altitude of Iridium Flares
- Dollar$ or Cent$?
- Domino Multiple Game
- Dr. Smith vs. The Lawyer
- Dream Job
- Earth Turns? Prove It!
- Estimating Planar Areas Using Analogue Methods
- Finding All Solutions to a Puzzle
- Geometric Addition + Logarithms = Geometric Multiplication
- Geometry to the Rescue: A Story in Pictures
- Grandpa’s Social Security
- How Big Is the Earth?
- How Far Can You See?
- How Many Days Are in a Year?
- How Now, Pythagoras?
- How Thick is the Atmosphere?
- How to Win at Rock-Paper-Scissors
- Hypothermia in the Little House
- Ice Sheets and Sea Level Rise
- Isoperimetric Geometry
- It's Raining Cats and Dogs...and Fish and Frogs...and Birds
- Just What is a Logarithm, Anyway?
- Launch Speed
- Learning from Slide Rules
- Learning to Think Globally
- Length of the Day
- Logarithms: Taking the Curve Out
- Lower Calories, Lower Fat: Making a Healthier Cake Without Loss of Taste
- Making Clouds: Aerosol-Cloud Interactions in a Beaker
- Making Months
- Mapping Your State and Community
- Matching Birthdays
- Measuring the Earth
- Metric Wins!
- Mixing and Stirring
- Modeling the Motions of the Earth, Moon and Sun
- Modulus in Real Life
- Motivating Honest Budgets and Hard Work Simultaneously
- Now You See It, Now You Don’t
- Particle Man and the Photon
- Pilots, Airplanes, and the Tangent of Three (3) Degrees
- Preventing Hypothermia
- Probability and Traffic Signals
- Proving the Pythagorean Theorem
- Right Place, Wrong Time
- Rotational Motion and Rocket Launches
- Sand or Rock? Finding Out from 1,000 km
- Scavenger Hunt: Simulating Natural Selection
- Seeing Interference Fringes
- Seeing Interference Fringes with a Telescope
- Snowmelt and Floods
- Spoon Mirror
- Square Root of 2: Irrational, Yes! Impractical, No!
- Square Roots Using a Carpenter's Square
- Studies of a Population of Stars: Distances and Motions
- Studies of a Population of Stars: Mapping the Positions of Stars
- Studies of a Population of Stars: How Bright Are the Stars, Really?
- Teaching Atomic Structure Using Cooperative Learning
- Teaching Radicals in Less than Five Minutes
- The Cause of the Earth's Seasons
- The Cause of the Phases of the Moon
- The Fall of the Ruler
- The Mathematical Implications of Lying
- The Moon Orbits the Sun?!?!
- The Rubber Band Problem
- The Shadow of the Dog
- There's Air in There!
- Thermo and Fluid Dynamics of a Homemade “Lava Lamp”
- Two Answers are Better than One
- Volcanic Clouds and the Atmosphere
- Volcanoes and Urban Planning
- Water Bottles, Root Beer, and Air
- What is Wind Chill?
- What makes cities hot? An urban heat island activity
- What the Doppler Effect Tells Us About Distant Stars and Planets
- When a Ruler Is Too Short
- Who Hits Harder: The Nordic Skier or Aerial Jumper?
- Why Don’t Clouds Fall Out of the Sky?
- Why is Summer Hot?
- Why Is There a Tidal Bulge Opposite the Moon?
- Why Tailgating on Freeways is Unsafe: A Real-life Example Using Quadratic Equations