The MathScape curriculum incorporates three "levels" or kinds of projects. Small-scale projects, or investigations, occur on a daily basis. Many units also contain larger scale mini-projects that tie together multiple lessons within a unit. Finally, about half of the units involve large-scale projects incorporating all of the major ideas from the unit.

Investigations

The main component of the MathScape lesson is the investigation, a small-scale project in which students explore mathematics concepts in a variety of ways. While these investigations often involve hands-on activities with tangible results, sometimes they require only that students play with mathematical ideas in their heads. For example, in one lesson from the seventh grade unit, Language of Algebra, students do the "Algebra Walk" in which they use their bodies to represent points on the coordinate plane. Not only does this give them a different perspective on graphing, but it is also used to help them see how equations and graphs are related.

Mini-projects

Investigations are often linked to one another to form a larger-scale mini-project. For example, in the sixth grade unit, Language of Numbers, students spend time during the first few lessons creating and investigating a system for representing numbers that is different from other number systems with which they might be familiar. They then compare their system with other number systems, such as the one employed by the abacus and our own base-10 system, and thus gain a better understanding of the structure of number systems in general and our base-10 number system in particular.

Large-scale projects

Approximately half of the MathScape units culminate in a large-scale project in which students apply their recently acquired knowledge to a new situation. For example, the eighth grade unit, What Comes Next?, closes with a final project in which students investigate the population trends of a specific population; in doing this, they have the opportunity to demonstrate what they learned in the unit about linear and exponential growth.