NASA: Practical Uses of Math and Science (PUMAS)
NASA has collected examples of math and science used in everyday life for K-12 teachers to enrich their math and science classes. Practical Uses of Math And Science (PUMAS) So far, PUMAS comprises 79 examples submitted by scientists, engineers, and other content experts. Examples can be searched by keyword or browsed as whole or by field: grade level, keyword, or benchmark. All activities can be downloaded as a Word Document or PDF.
Students in grades K-2 discover how clouds float in Why Don’t Clouds Fall Out of the Sky?
In Spoon Mirror, students in grades 3-5 investigate reflected images concave and convex surfaces.
Sand or Rock? Finding Out from 1,000 km is an activity in which grades 6-8 students explore temperature differences in beach or sandbox sand.
Students in grades 9-12 compute the stopping distance of a car traveling at a given speed in Why Tailgating on Freeways is Unsafe: A Real-life Example Using Quadratic Equations.
Contributions & Requests
Potential contributors must register and follow the site guidelines for submission on the Contributors’ Page. Teachers looking for practical examples can submit a request on the Examples Wanted page. Teachers can also evaluate their experience with the activities by using the Teachers' On-Line Assessment Questions.
Download an informative PUMAS Flyer.