Significant Figures Activities
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Make learning significant figures fun and interactive with this collection of free activities, projects, and teaching resources.
Most of these activities were created for a ninth grade physical science class, but they could also be used in chemistry, physics, or any science class.
Significant Figure References
Significant Figures Posters
Download a collection of significant figures reference posters to hang in your classroom as an easy reference for students!
Significant Figures Practice Activities
Significant Figures Speed Dating Activity
This significant figures speed dating activity is designed to give students repeated practice quickly recognizing how many significant figures there are in a number.
You might know this activity structure by the name “Quiz Quiz Trade.”
Significant Figures Station Activities
I created these significant figures stations activities for my physical science students to work through as they practice significant figures.
This was my first time ever using stations where different students were doing different activities at the same time. It was great and entirely chaotic!
I set up 5 stations for my students to work through. I expected my students to be able to work through all 5 stations in one fifty-minute period, but it ended up taking two fifty-minute periods for my students to finish all five stations.
Significant Figures Looping Cards Activity
The first significant figures station that I had my students work through was a set of looping cards that was inspired by a set of cards I downloaded from TES. Sadly, that file is no longer online.
I changed the font, edited the table so each card would be the exact same size, and modified the wording of a few of the questions.
Even with the written instructions, my students had trouble getting started with this station. With most groups, once I showed them how to figure out the first couple of cards they seemed to catch on quickly.
Significant Figures Ordering Cards Activity
The next significant figures station featured fifteen cards. Each card has a number that has anywhere from one to five significant figures.
Students didn’t know this, but there were three cards with one significant figure, three cards with two significant figures, etc.
Students needed to sort the cards by smallest number of significant figures to largest number of significant figures.
Significant Figures Rectangle Puzzle Activity
This significant figures rectangle puzzle activity can be downloaded from Teachers Pay Teachers.
Students had to assemble these 12 pieces into a 3 x 4 so that the edge of each piece is touching the edge of another piece that has the exact same number of significant figures.
Some of my students had a really hard time wrapping their mind around how this puzzle worked. Others raced through it.
Significant Figures Two Truths and a Lie Activity
This Significant Figures Two Truths and a Lie Activity was one of my favorite stations.
Students had to write two truths and a lie involving significant figures using construction paper and markers. Before the quiz on the next day, students looked at each set of two truths and a lie and tried to determine which was the lie.
Here’s an example of one set of two truths and a lie that my students came up with.
My new document camera from Ipevo came in super handy to display each student’s work for the rest of the class to see.
Arithmetic with Significant Figures Task Cards Activity
The last station (Arithmetic with Significant Figures Task Cards) gave students practice performing arithmetic with significant figures.
Somehow I managed to not take a single picture of my students working at this station.
This station is the one my students struggled with the most. I had to keep directing them back to their notes over and over and over.
Free Download of Significant Figures Station Directions
Want to carry out these stations activities in your own classroom? Here are the printed instructions that I posted at each station in the classroom. These are available both as a PDF and an editable Publisher file. In order to edit the file, you will need to have Microsoft Publisher installed on your computer.
Click here to Download
Significant Figures Station Instructions (PDF)
1995 downloads – 243.84 KB
Significant Figures Projects
Significant Figures Poster Project
In this significant figures poster project, students research a city, state, or country and create a poster featuring various facts with a specified number of sig figs.
Hi, great posts here! Can you recommend a math worksheet generator that permits publishing for commercial use? I am currently using School Tech, which allows this but I need something that fully covers Algebra.
Not familiar with math worksheet generators. Sorry!
I absolutely love your blog. Your ideas are fantastic! How do you find time to blog during/after the school day?!
Basically I just have no life outside of school 🙂
Check out http://www.mmlsoft.com/index.php/products/tarsia
You can make your own tarsia puzzles. I just discovered it and I love it!
Thanks for sharing the link with my readers!
Looks great, thank you Elizabeth
Good Morning,
I just wanted to say thank you so much for this idea. I absolutely love the different stations. I have a couple of questions though.
1. Do you grade this stationed worked and if so how do you grade it? On participation or on correctness?
2. How do you crowd control and make sure the students are actually doing the task at hand?
3. How do you separate the students in groups for these stationed activities?
I apologize for all the questions but I would love to see how you fully went about this.
Thank you again.
A.J.
I am a veteran chem teacher doing block scheduling for the first time in a while. Your activities are so creative and will really help break up the period! Thanks!
So glad you are able to use these activities! I miss teaching science.