Ontario Math Links: Math Links for Week Ending June 19th, 2015

Friday, June 19, 2015

Math Links for Week Ending June 19th, 2015

At the Tap Into Teen Minds blog, @mathletepearce has been doing some work with Knowledgehook and although I don't know if this is a direct result of that work but they have released their Gameshow app and it looks kind of cool. I especially like the fact that it is linked directly to Ontario (and other provinces) curriculum. It kind of works like Kahoot in that kids are answering MC questions, though one thing I like better about this compared to Kahoot is that there is more control over the timing of the questions. Here the timer doesn't even start until 75% of the students answer so that is a little less anxiety causing for those who freeze up when there is a time limit (they call that their Dynamic End Timer). But all the questions are linked directly to expectations and right now, for Ontario, they have questions for gr7-10 in math. Check it out.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://knowledgehook.com

Though it's called the Most Controversial Facts in Math, they are less controversial but certainly neat. From The Monty Hall problem to Benford's law there are a lot of cool bits. Though mostly probability based, they are all fun
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-controversial-math-problems-2013-3#

I love RowGames and it's always great when someone creates one and shares it. In this case it's two. One for distance between points and the other for the midpoint. A rowgame is when students are paired up and given the same worksheet with two columns of questions. One student does one column and the other does the second. The nice thing is that in each row, the answers for each column are the same. So this is a self checking worksheet. If the students get the same answer that means they did it correctly, if not then one or both made a mistake.
Curriculum Tags: MPM2D
https://laviemathematique.wordpress.com/2015/06/17/distance-and-midpoint-formula-row-game/

Though the post claims this is about integers on a number line, I would argue they are whole numbers since we don't venture into the negatives. Regardless this is a pretty slick way to have students estimate on a number line and check their answers. The image doesn't do it justice. Go to the site and try it out.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
http://blog.keycurriculum.com/zooming-intgers-magnifying-the-number-line/

A lot of good info here from Jo Boaler on why students who memorize are the lowest achievers. Thanks to @MrSoClassroom for this one
Curriculum Tags: All
http://hechingerreport.org/memorizers-are-the-lowest-achievers-and-other-common-core-math-surprises/

Though I can honestly say that I have never taught in my underwear, I am sure that some students might be ok with @PietroBosselli_ doing so. This math teacher is also a super model and you can read an interview with him from @AlexBellos. Honestly, I have to say my favourite part was when he gave an honest answer about being able to multiply 43x67 in his head:

"...not as quickly as people would usually expect. Somehow people who don’t do maths think that mathematicians spend their days calculating numbers in their head. Well, sorry to disappoint, maths goes a bit beyond addition and multiplication."

Check it out here
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2015/jun/11/worlds-hottest-maths-teacher-pietro-boselli-interview

I have always loved this proof. A cool way to connect infinity to algebra (and I think blow kid's minds).
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MFM1P, MPM1D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT1sIVqonE8

And here are the extras for the above video. This part probably has a more close relationship to calculus when you talk about infinitesimal sums and the limit of the sum of a series
Curriculum Tags: MCV4U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJiVhfR_XVE

Here is a video that has an Olympic cyclist powering a toaster. Later in the video they compare how many of these cyclists would be needed to power different things. So this could be used as a good rate related question.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4O5voOCqAQ

I have been having some discussions with @mathletepearce about these types of Facebook posts that seem to be so appealing whereas if you just gave them to students as tables of values then they would be bland.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P, MPM2P, MPM2D