Math Links for Week Ending Feb. 7th, 2014

Function Carnival is a new set of activities developed by Desmos with the help of Dan Meyer and Christopher Danielson. With these "Students watch a video. They try to graph what they see. Then they play back the video and see how their graphical model would be represented as an animation." These are great activities that provide a nice way to look at position-time graphs. A few of the features I like are

• the fact that you create a class and then give your students the class code (to be used on the site class.desmos.com). With this class code you can then see each student's individual graph(s).
• there are three very different scenarios (including a sinusoidal case) and each of the scenarios have an extension where students are asked what is wrong with a particular graph
• the fact that they deal with graphs that are not functions (see image).

Given the different types of graphs I could see using this in classes that range from graphing in grade 7 to functions in grade 11. Not sure if more scenarios are on the horizon but check out Dan's post for a discussion around that.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7. Gr8, MFM1P, MPM1D, MFM2P, MCF3M, MCR3U
http://blog.desmos.com/post/74745817070/carnival

Holy flashback, Batman. It seems like such a long time ago that I worked on developing this resource with Mary and as it turns out it was a decade. It was a pretty polished product by the end with activities for several different classes and a DVD with live action from the classroom. This activity was a great on for developing sinusoidal function proficiency with grade 11 students. It was written with the last incarnation of the curriculum in mind (not the current) but it is still relevant. It's been a while since I taught MCR3U so perhaps that is why I forgot about it but I loved working with the CBRs with my students. Thanks for the reminder.
Curriculum Tags: MCR3U
http://marybourassa.blogspot.ca/2014/02/going-around-in-circles.html

I think Cathy Yenca nailed it with this statement "If you teach mathematics, your students have devices with internet access, and you’re NOT using ...." (insert online assessment tool here). A number of recent blog posts from different sources have all taken to talk about different uses and methods for doing this. Cathy talks about a service called ThatQuiz.org where you can create your own free account and generate quizzes for your students.
On the Tap Into Teen Minds blog, Kyle gives us a way to use Google Docs to give descriptive feedback to students who have their own Gmail accounts.
And finally on the Reflections of a High School Math Teacher blog, the focus is on using a shared Google Drive folder as a means to get files to your students.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.mathycathy.com/blog/2014/01/thatquiz-org-pre-testing-and-post-testing/
http://tapintoteenminds.com/2014/02/06/use-google-drive-descriptive-feedback/
http://teachhighschoolmath.blogspot.ca/2014/01/google-drive-what-are-you-waiting-for.html

Its always good to be reminded that even our best students can benefit from activities that may not be traditional. And what better course than what tends to be the pinnacle of high school math courses. Here's a great way to help with curve sketching by using highlighters.
Curriculum Tags: MCR3U
http://squarerootof.....math.blogspot.ca/2014/01/sketching-f-from-f.html

Why not finish this weeks resource section with yet another comment on Numberphile's infinite series = -1/12 video
Curriculum Tags: All
http://mikesmathpage.wordpress.com/2014/01/26/the-numberphile-infinite-series-video/

What is the probability of flipping a coin 76 times and getting a head? Those and other related probability questions are answered in these two related posts. I love the obvious connection to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Whether you like that connection or not its still a neat topic.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MBF3C, MEL3E, MDM4U
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/roots-of-unity/2014/01/27/rosencrantz-and-guildenstern-flip-coins/
http://blogs.ams.org/blogonmathblogs/2014/01/27/heads-i-win-tails-you-lose/

As far as I can tell, this is a student doing this video about Phi. Kind of a combination of RSAnimate and Vi Hart.

Curriculum Tags: All

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTbO8iV7xVE

And if a little bit of Phi isn't enough, how about a classic: Donald in Mathemagic Land (the full movie). For a better version, click on the link instead of watching the embedded video here.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_ZHsk0-eF0

How do mathematicians hi-five. Mathematically, that is. Take a look at all the possibilities here. Asymptote (below), completing the square, sine curves and more.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2014/01/27/the-math-aficionados-guide-to-high-fives/