Scientific notation is such a great topic to study because it shows students a really practical application in math. I love how it makes sense that you would actually use scientific notation in many different situations. It’s fun to illustrate really, really big numbers, and really, really small numbers. Plus, these numbers show up again and again in students’ science classes. Scientific notation activities help students see just how practical and prevalent these numbers really are. I’m excited to share with you 10 activity ideas that are sure to be hits in your classroom.

Plus, converting to and from scientific notation seems to make sense to kids. I feel like this is a concept where students can have a lot of success. Whenever we get to a topic like this, not only do I want students to get it and rock it, I also want to leverage their success with this topic to feel more confidence in math and be willing to try harder on other topics.

First, I introduce scientific notation using a presentation you can read all about in “Teaching Scientific Notation: Four Questions to Help Students Understand”.

Basically, students need to ask themselves 4 questions when converting to scientific notation and from scientific notation. These questions help students really understand what they’re doing. In 10 years from now, when students look back on their math class, you want them to remember that scientific notation makes working with crazy huge and crazy small numbers easier.

Below you’ll find a list of 10 activities that make practicing scientific notation super fun and engaging. Also, you’ll find a brief explanation of each activity.

The List of Scientific Notation Activities

• • Scientific Notation Maze
  • Music Video Explanation
  • Scientific Notation Bingo
  • Scientific Notation Escape Room Activity
  • Real World Card Game
  • Ordering Cards for Partner Work
  • Scientific Notation Cootie Catcher
  • Bullseye Game with Scientific Notation
  • Scientific Notation Task Cards
  • Scientific Notation Tic Tac Toe

Let’s Dig into the Activities

Some of the activities work well for independent practice, others for partner work, and some are for whole class practice. Also, you’ll find a variety of activity types. All of the activities are super engaging for students.

Scientific Notation Maze

Sometimes students just need a little practice. These three scientific notation mazes gives them a fun way to do just that. Kids love mazes and one of the reasons has to be because they’re not very threatening. There isn’t a huge risk and they can feel successful easily.

This set includes 3 mazes. One maze practices converting to scientific notation, another one practices converting from scientific notation, and the last one practices a combination of the two. Students will get to practice converting back and forth for 13-15 problems per mazes. Try these in your classroom and watch your kids have fun while they practice scientific notation.

Once students are feeling comfortable with scientific notation, they can step up their game and practice comparing numbers written in scientific notation in 3 more mazes. It’s a great way to get them to practice identifying which number is larger, or how many times greater a number is than another.

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Music Video Explanation

This scientific notation music video shows how to convert with scientific notation in a fun and memorable way. There’s a narrative feel to the video and it gives real world examples. I show the video a couple of times throughout the week. I give students different prompts to write about or talk about after watching the video to make it meaningful. Some examples are:

-What are the 3 most important points from this video?

-Write a 10 word summary of this video.

-Name one example of scientific notation in real life from the video.

Watching videos can just serve as a time filler or they can be memorable and have impact in the classroom. This video is content rich, and having students reflect on what it shows makes it a powerful addition to a scientific notation unit.

Scientific Notation Bingo

Sometimes the class just needs to practice with a whole class game. That’s where BINGO comes in. Basically, it serves as a call and response type of activity, but students think they’re playing a game. I use at as a way of seeing student progress with converting in scientific notation. Students play along on their whiteboard and all students must complete every problem. I reveal the answer on the screen and students check their work.

In this BINGO game you’ll find expressions for converting to and from scientific notation. This edition consists of 30 questions and 36 individual cards. I did have to use the carat symbol when making this activity, so students get the chance to see scientific notation expressed a different way. 

Scientific Notation Escape Room Activity

One of my favorite math activities to use to get students more practice with a math concept is a digital escape room. If you’ve never used one before, these activities are completely digital in Google Slides. Students use their math skills to work through a set of problems. For each problem set, they’ll discover a code which they use to check to see if they’re on the right track. At the end of the completed activity, they’ll know that they’ve answered all questions correctly.

Escape rooms are a great activity for partner practice, math centers, or other extended practice. They’re engaging for students and gives you a chance to work more with those students who are getting stuck.

The Scientific Notation Escape Room Activity will help students hone their skills and apply their knowledge of scientific notation.

Real World Card Game

You can find this real world card game for scientific notation here, and just print and go. It’s a card game that you play in a group. This game comes from a professional website for science topics.

The teacher guide and how to play are all available from the website. Basically, you have cards with different really big and really small number like blood cells in your body or stars in the universe. The game consists of comparing them to each other. My kids loved playing it. And I loved that it brings real life examples to the classroom.

Ordering Cards for Partner Work

This idea comes for ordering cards with scientific notation comes from the Math Equals Love blog. You can download the cards at the very bottom of the blog post. She explains that student can use the cards to to compare numbers in scientific notation, placing them in order of largest to smallest. This seems like such a great idea to me. It gets students really thinking about the numbers in scientific notation.

To do this activity, each student (or partnership) has a set of cards and they have to convert them all to scientific notation, so that they can compare them. Then, they line them up. You could also create a couple more sets of similar cards so that this can be a centers activity. This activity is a great way to get students working with these numbers.

Scientific Notation Cootie Catcher

A couple of years ago I got into a cootie catcher kick. It’s that little fortune teller thing we used to make in 4th grade during our down time. Well, it happens to also change up the way problems are presented and this can help to engage some kids that we sometimes struggle to engage.

For this scientific notation math activity, students take a couple minutes to put the cootie catcher together, cutting and folding. Then, working with a partner, they play the cootie catcher. When they get to the end of the cootie catcher an expression is revealed. They must then convert it to scientific notation. Sometimes we play it as a partner duel and sometimes we play it cooperatively. It’s a fun way to get a little extra practice with scientific notation.

The Target Game with Scientific Notation

If you already have worksheets/problem sets you’re using, but want to make it a little more fun, the Target Game packs a very engaging punch. I use it weekly in my math lab class and they love it. Basically, this game gives students a brain break between problems.

To play, I draw a target on the board. For each problem that we do, I ask three questions. Then, the three students who answered the questions stand behind a line on the floor. All of the other kids decide who they think will get the most point. Then, each of the 3 throwers throw a suction cup ball at the target on the board. What ensues is very fun. No one is really good at the throwing part, so you never know who will get the big numbers. 

I used an online worksheet (you can find it here) for the questions. I displayed each question on the doc cam, and then all students answered the questions on their whiteboards. You can read more about the Target Game here.

Scientific Notation Task Cards

Task cards are such a versatile tool– they belong in EVERY math teacher’s toolbox. These scientific notation task cards are great for differentiation or focusing on different aspects of using scientific notation.

Task cards are great for partner practice, math stations, scoot, and more. They’re also a great set of questions to keep on hand for cyclical review or to play along with the target game, pick a card, trashketball, and more whole class games.

These 24 scientific notation task cards are broken down to practice the following skills:

• 8 questions: Convert numbers from scientific notation to standard form
• 8 questions: Convert from standard form to scientific notation
• 4 questions: Place numbers in order from least to greatest (mixed practice with numbers written in standard form and scientific notation)
• 2 questions: Label parts of a term written in scientific notation
• 2 questions: Answer application questions that require a written explanation.

Plus, they’re available in printable format (can be double-sided with answers on the back for self-checking) as well as digital format in Google Slides. Like I said- super versatile!

Scientific Notation Tic Tac Toe

This scientific notation game gets students get practice converting to and from scientific notation. This twist on the classic game of Tic-Tac-Toe provides students multiple opportunities to practice. This activity provides opportunities for students to use mathematical language, justify answers making mathematically sound arguments, and get repetition with scientific notation.

This download includes 4 Tic Tac Toe boards for students to play with a partner. It also features some sentence starters to help students talk about scientific notation as they play. You can have them play on paper or they can put the tic tac toe board into a dry-erase sleeve . I like to have both students solve each problem, and whoever’s turn it is wins the square if they’re correct. Otherwise, the other person gets the square. Honestly, students get so into the game portion that they forget they’re practicing math.

Try one thing…

This post shares many ideas for teaching scientific notation, and that might be a little overwhelming. You don’t have to try all of them. I would challenge you to try one thing. Try one of these activities and see how your students like it. When you bring a little fun or novelty into the classroom your students will respond by being more engaged. If students are more engaged then they will be learning more. So, give the idea that you found the most intriguing a whirl.

Thanks so much for reading! Until next time.