Friday, March 30, 2018

Math Links for Week Ending Mar. 30th, 2018

So Equatio from @texthelp is a Google plugin that speeds the process of putting equations into Google apps. Now with Google Docs there is already an equation editor that is fairly easy to use but one of the nice things about this is the input choices, two of which are hand writing (great if you have a touchscreen Chromebook) or by voice. Though what you get is a non editable image, the thing that makes up for it is that with Google Forms you not only get equations that both you can use for creating questions but that students can use when they write their answers, not to mention that they can also add graphs (using the @Desmos API). Pretty cool. Thanks to @Esping_Math for pointing this one out.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/equatio-math-made-digital/hjngolefdpdnooamgdldlkjgmdcmcjnc


I like this activity from @Mr_Stadel that has students first informally graphing linear relationships in contexts and then works it's way to describing them in words, with numbers and equations.
Curriculum Tags: Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/5aa4d254e072830479e2c81b



Are you looking for some resources on women in mathematics? Well @LetsPlayMath has you covered. This is a nice summary of the contributions of 15 women to mathematics. Nicely done.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://denisegaskins.com/2018/03/26/playful-math-carnival-115/



I just had some fun with @Geogebra's new AR app to view 3D shapes. Though I'm not sure where to use this in a K-12 class in Ontario, it sure is fun. It seems it only exists for iOS right now though.
Curriculum tags: All
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/geogebra-augmented-reality/id1276964610?mt=8


Even if you don't like their music you have appreciate all the effort OKGo puts into their videos. Now on this site they have turned some of these experiences into an educational sandbox. You get a small sense of it with this behind the scenes video but there is much more. Check the site out.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://okgosandbox.org/#intro

Sinusoidal waves are everywhere
Curriculum Tags: MCF3M, MCR3U
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg-EYrWjsC_/

A post shared by David Petro (@lookimyourfather) on

These images from @AlexOverwijk really show that you don't need any fancy tech to get your kids engaged in math. Just ask questions in the right way.
Curriculum Tags: MPM2D, MBF3C, MCF3M, MCR3U
https://twitter.com/AlexOverwijk/status/979381349625815040



Saturday, March 24, 2018

Math Links for Week Ending Mar. 23rd, 2018

Well it has taken weeks but my partner in crime (Gisele Jobin) and I have finally completed this video. We have talked about doing it for a while but it seems it has finally got done. We wanted to develop a progression of questions to develop the fraction multiplication algorithm. Of course we know that it's the kind of thing that is so easy to tell students then let them practice but like many other things that students are told, they mix them up with other things and rarely ever understand them in the first place. So this longish video is our way of encouraging you all to develop the algorithm instead of just giving it to them. We used the Mathies Fraction Strips app but any sets of fraction strips will do. Next up is the fraction division algorithm.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlJ1ZyAbSm0


Here is a nice little short puzzle/sorting activity for types of polynomials from @mathequalslove. Students are given a deck of polynomial pieces and some cards with types of polynomials (eg Cubic Polynomial). And they have to place all the cards to create polynomials to match.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM1P
https://mathequalslove.blogspot.ca/2018/03/building-polynomials-activity.html

I don't think we can have enough resources to help us understand students with learning disabilities. Here is a very comprehensive resource on ways we can support students with LDs. Thanks to @kmarkpet for this one
Curriculum Tags: All
https://www.ldatschool.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/2017-Math-LD-Waterfall-AODA_v005.pdf

I've had division of fractions a lot on my mind lately so I think this post from @MarkChubb3 about how context can make the difference in understanding. I really like the beginning with the conversation with his wife that really brings it to light.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://buildingmathematicians.wordpress.com/2018/03/20/the-importance-of-contexts-and-visuals/

Here is a nice article about reading novels in math class featuring @JoelBezaire and @SamJShah
Curriculum Tags: All
https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/50640/how-reading-novels-in-math-class-can-strengthen-student-engagement





An offshoot podcast from Planet Money is called The Indicator which is a short look at a number in the news. This episode was 1994 which is the year graphing calculators were allowed to be used on the SATs and one of the things the podcast talks about is why the price of the TI-84 has essentially stayed unchanged since it's inception.
Curriculum Tags: All 
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/03/12/592962844/hurricane-joseph-the-calculator-that-time-forgot



On this episode of Note to Self they speak to @MonaChalabi who is the data editor for The Guardian who does some very cool stuff both in the publication and on her Instagram feed. She picks interesting data sets and creates interesting visualizations to represent them. Listening to a podcast doesn't do her work justice but listen at the link below and then and then check out her feed.
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U
https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/data-mona-chalabi/



This is not a new article and not new info but it's worth reminding ourselves that there is real research behind the idea that if students feel they have some choice, they will do better, especially in math. Thanks to @KMarkPet for this one
Curriculum Tags: All
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/201004/kids-learn-math-easily-when-they-control-their-own-learning

@mathletepearce is hard at work with his new site Math is Visual and has added another video on multiplying integers. Watch the video but also follow the link to get the full annotations for the video
Curriculum Tags: Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
http://mathisvisual.com/visualizing-integer-multiplication/


Looking for an application of powers in real life? How about cryptography?
Curriculum Tags: Gr8, MPM1D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mthPiiCS24A


What a great, simple and fun idea to connect similar triangles to real life
Curriculum Tags: MPM2D, MFM2P
https://twitter.com/MrOrr_geek/status/976111425037979649


It turns out this professional golfer is a huge fan of math and physics to help his game
Curriculum Tags: All
https://twitter.com/davidpetro314/status/975507234246586375

A fun way to have kids work with fractions
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
https://twitter.com/mathemaniac/status/975629069147500544



Friday, March 16, 2018

Math Links for Week Ending Mar. 16th, 2018

 What's Going on With This Graph? That is a new(ish) feature of the NYTimes. It's been running since September and on the second Tuesday of each month (from September until May) they pick a graph that they've used and ask student's what they notice and wonder (and other questions). The student's interact via moderated chat (@MFAnnie did the moderation this week) with answers revealed on the Thursday of the same week. You can see all the previous instalments at the link below. Get your kids to check them out and interact.
Curriculum Tags: MBF3C, MAP4C, MDM4U
https://www.nytimes.com/column/whats-going-on-in-this-graph

It was Pi Day this week. Here is a link to my page of over 80 links that I've collected over the years. Save it for next year.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://davidpetro.org/PiDay.htm

He was clearly getting ready for PiDay with this 3Act task when @mathletepearce put this one together. How many tiles around the circle?
Curriculum Tags: Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
https://tapintoteenminds.com/3act-math/tile-circle/


I recorded a guest spot on the 10 Minute Teacher podcast (from @coolcatteacher) this week. Up until a week ago I had not heard of it but since, I have caught up on a bunch of episodes. They are not always math related but they are always full of teacher tips. For example, check out the link below from @aap03102 who talked about how he celebrates Pi Day in an epic way (seriously, he does some cool stuff). Listen to his episode at the link below and check out the rest of the math related episodes but clicking on the Podcast tab above.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.coolcatteacher.com/epic-ways-celebrate-pi-day/


For PiDay this week @Story_Collider had two math related stories. The first is a story of what inspired a reluctant mathematician Ken Ono (one of the producers of the movie "The Man Who Knew Infinity"). The second is a powerful story of racial and gender discrimination in the math community and elsewhere from @pwr2dppl. And if that is not enough, check out her thesis. It's written in a way that I have never seen a math/science thesis written. This quote from the prologue should pique your interest: "....try to read a math paper and think, “Oh my goodness what on earth does any of this mean why can’t they just say what they mean????”"
Curriculum Tags: All
https://www.storycollider.org/stories/2018/3/5/in-honor-of-pi-day-stories-about-math

Here's a nice little websketch from @DpScher on placing fractions on a number line. It encourages trial and error and has a randomizing feature so that your students can practice. Watch the "how to" video to see how to use the bank of numbers on the sketch.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
http://www.sineofthetimes.org/deducing-the-mystery-fraction/

Check out this sweet dynamic model of the area of a circle
Curriculum Tags: Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
https://twitter.com/von_Oy/status/972274266963050496


A couple of nice Geogebra sketches from @dynamic_math. This first one randomly generates a linear equation (in standard form) and asks students to drag points to represent the equation's line.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM2P
https://www.geogebra.org/m/s5CmNkbb
The second one is a neat little sketch to have students solidify their understanding of trig ratios.
Curriculum Tags: MPM2D, MFM2P
https://www.geogebra.org/m/F5a9GDd6


After listening to the above podcast, I found this video from Ken Ono on Pi showing an expansion of Pi I hadn't seen before. Note at the end, it's not a mistake but a notation of adding fractions within fractions.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwSbX0CW9hA

You can't have enough geometry based synchronized dancing
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT0Z_KCPYYY


You can't have enough Pi based cartoons
Curriculum Tags: All


Some fun stuff on this math based Tumblr like this circular analysis of the Twitter logo. But go to the link to see all the good stuff
Curriculum Tags: All
http://curiosamathematica.tumblr.com/


Some subtle calculus humour for you. Thanks to @MathHombre for pointing this one out.
Curriculum Tags: MCV4U
https://twitter.com/BryanPenfound/status/974038384980078592

Here's a fun visualization connecting chaos to order
Curriculum Tags: All
https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/973820123684528130

A prom proposal via @Desmos? Yup
Curriculum Tags: All
https://twitter.com/jedediyah/status/974296656211533824


Friday, March 9, 2018

Math Links for Week Ending Mar. 9th, 2018

So on his latest post @ddmeyer talks about an event where he taught kids in front of hundreds of teachers. Interesting concept. Read the whole post for the details. But that's not what I zeroed in on. The thing that really got me was this idea of the rough draft. That is, reframing the way we ask our students to attack problems. When we ask students questions that might be hard they often will hesitate for fear of being wrong. What ever we can do to help them overcome that fear the faster they can get to doing math. By asking them for their first or rough draft that allows them to be OK with making mistakes because, hey it's a first draft. Of course, first, you have to ask them a worth while question.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://blog.mrmeyer.com/2018/rough-draft-talk-in-front-of-hundreds-of-math-teachers/

I've been working on this activity on and off since the summer but finally have a working copy. It is an introduction to two dimensional vector equations. At the end there are a couple of slides with random generated questions for practice. Thanks to @Eluberoff for helping me figure out the vector arrows.
Curriculum Tags: MCV4U
http://engaging-math.blogspot.ca/p/desmos-activities_10.html

I also updated my equation strips activity to deal with equations in the form Ax + B = C and now Ax - B = C. The premiss of this activity is to represent two step equations as these strips. The lengths of the strips represent the values in the equations and the fact that they are equal help visualize the equality. Now by adding equations in the form Ax - B = C means those strips are different sizes but the subtraction is represented by the gap. Regardless, students really seem to understand equations just a little bit better when using these. There is a hands on version and there is also an interactive websketch that will let you create your own for any equation.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
http://engaging-math.blogspot.ca/2017/01/equation-strips.html

These Zukei puzzles are kind of fun for geometric shapes. The idea is that given a type of geometric shape, you have to draw it using the dots given as the outline. Here @MarkChubb3 has made a bunch (based on @mathequalslove's original post) and linked to her original post.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
https://buildingmathematicians.wordpress.com/2018/03/08/zukei-puzzles/







I like this example from @AliceKeeler on how to use  Google Slides as a collaboration tool for your students in your math classes.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.alicekeeler.com/2017/01/23/google-math-join-me-in-my-thinking/







I like this list of ideas from @MrSoClassroom on how to promote discourse in your math classes. Thanks to @MatthewOldridge for posing the original question.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XUEjhEBK2-TbAto6O-8uJ38UNWecw-aTDkwRX666jOs/edit

Get your quadratics out. Scientific American has done the math on the perfect free throw. They have laid it all out in this article.
Curriculum Tags: MPM2D, MFM2P, MCR3U, MCF3M, MCR3U
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-math-behind-the-perfect-free-throw/

A relatively new one from @mathvineaday visualizing the difference of cubes.
Curriculum Tags: MPM2D, MCR3U
https://twitter.com/mathvineaday/status/969295664239673344

Another couple of good ones from @JessicaHagy to help you help students understand the nature of a linear graph.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM1P
http://thisisindexed.com/2018/03/keep-heroes-close/

http://thisisindexed.com/2018/02/good-map-will-get/



Friday, March 2, 2018

Math LInks for Week Ending Mar. 2nd, 2018

I'm sure you are aware of @Mr_Stadel's Estimation 180 and hopefully you have used some of them in your class to help kids become better at estimation. Recently he posted about how to use the @Desmos activity builder to extend that structure and help get students to think deeper on their estimation skills. He lays it out on this post and shows how you can do that in this post.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.estimation180.com/blog/estimation-180-and-desmos

Some fun stuff to help your students link about linear functions from @G_BRGMN. Sure there's a WODB but I like the idea of asking students to notice and wonder about some of those things that we often take for granted as teachers (like the point slope formula for a line). Some nice ways to tweak the stuff you are already doing in your class and get your kids talking at the same time.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM2P
https://countjoy12.wordpress.com/2018/02/03/8th-grade-unit-3-functions-part-3-point-slope-form-standard-form/

Do you want a simple, real life math related task, to help connect students to the equation of a circle then check out this one from @geoffkrall. And if you want to take it a step further in terms of real world applications to crime scenes you can look at geographic profiling (which was developed in Vancouver)
Curriculum Tags: MPM2D
https://emergentmath.com/2018/02/23/stop-thief-the-fugitive-and-introducing-equations-of-circles/

Do you want to provide your students an opportunity to practice with equivalent fractions then you might want to use this set of 51 cards created by @mathequalslove. 51 because they match all the pieces of the standard fraction tower. She uses it like a card sort where students have to sort fractions in groups that are equivalent using the actual fraction strips to help. Download the template at the link below.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
https://mathequalslove.blogspot.ca/2018/02/equivalent-fractions-card-sort.html




Here is a nice piece on the problems with online teaching videos for math from @rogonic. The gist of it is that with videos the focus can only be procedural aspects of mathematics and that mathematics can be so much more. I would go so far as to say that if the experience students receive in a math class looks a lot like those videos (eg Khan Academy) then those videos are a great resource. However, that also tells me that those student's teacher could be literally be replaced by the Internet. We can do so much more than just teach procedures in a math class. So let's do it.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://learnandteachstatistics.wordpress.com/2018/02/15/probs-with-videos-for-maths/

Home made fridge magnets for parents
Curriculum Tags: All
https://twitter.com/davidpetro314/status/968288563619090432

Some linear humour. Thanks to @BardPrincess for this one
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM2P
https://scontent.fykz1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/27073063_748346858696153_3387352691038685208_n.jpg?oh=1838b369a86f8c71b94da3db7d563bd0&oe=5B41F1CC


I like this post from @MathDenisNJ highlighting some of the great strobe images from the Olympics and connecting them to trig and quadratic functions. Check the link out for all the images and if you want more of that type, I have a bunch of quadratic ones here.
Curriculum Tags: MPM2D, MFM2P, MCR3U, MCF3M, MBF3C
http://denissheeran.com/why-relevance-matters/

How about a composite area problem from FoxTrot
Curriculum Tags: Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
https://twitter.com/billamend/status/967816409542742016


Some more Olympic data from @FiveThirtyEight. This time on the sports with the most crashes. I think you could use it when teaching about percent. Click on the link for the whole story
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/which-winter-olympic-sports-see-the-most-wipeouts/

Some Math with Bad Drawings from @BenOrlin on e. Check them all out at the link below
Curriculum Tags: MHF4U
https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2018/02/05/the-abc-book-of-e/


Some more fun from @BenOrlin with 18 (or so) math cartoons
Curriculum Tags: All
https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2018/02/07/the-limitations-of-genies-and-18-other-math-cartoons/