Math Links for Week Ending April 11th, 2014

I have been showing this example from Deborah Ball for about a year now. I really like how she really articulates what distinguishes a good math teacher from someone who just knows how to do math. The neat thing is she does it in front of the Michigan legislature. For a longer talk by Dr. Ball on this topic you can click here.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2014/04/02/the-infinite-variety-of-wrong-answers/

I am fascinated by this Veronoi Diagram. Each dot represents an airport and the regions represent areas that are closest to that airport (compared to another airport). So the lines separating the regions represent places that are equidistant to the nearest airports. Its a really neat geometric property that could be adapted to the geometry units in grade 7&8 connecting to quadrilaterals. On the site the diagram is an interactive so that the entire globe's airports are mapped out. Thanks to @ddmeyer for this one.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
https://www.jasondavies.com/maps/voronoi/airports/

I like it when concepts can be introduced in unique ways. Here Mathy Cathy does has an interesting way to introduce compound events in probability. A simple true and false test (with random answers). Kind of reminds me a bit of the March Madness contest but on a smaller scale.
Curriculum Tags: MBF3C, MDM4U
http://www.mathycathy.com/blog/2014/03/true-or-false/




I like Kyle's Baby Beats 3 Acts task. Proportional reasoning is a topic that needs as many varying tasks to help students get a handle on it.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM1P
http://tapintoteenminds.com/2014/03/25/making-connections-proportional-reasoning/



We have seen cell phone plan questions before. And they all have a little bit of the pseudo math thing going on. But this one takes a slightly different take. Instead the standard fixed monthly cost and then a per minute charge (which is typically not how a phone plan works anymore) it has the fixed cost and then the extra cost for more data. A little more realistic.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM1P, MFM2P
http://www.yummymath.com/2014/cell-phone-plans/

I am a sucker for raw data. On this site Visualizing.org not only is there neat visualizations but they have all kinds of raw data. Check out this set on over 40,000 meteorites. Enjoy.
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U
http://visualizing.org/






Speaking of data, who doesn't like sports data. This post does a great job of summarizing places you and your students can get sports data. Thanks to Free Technology for Teachers for this one.
Curriculum Tags: MBF3C, MDM4U, MAP4C
http://www.tableausoftware.com/public/blog/2014/03/sports-data-sites-2370

Another one from Free Technology for Teachers is about four sites for free graph paper (of many types): Imcompetech, Print Free Graph Paper, Math Drills, Gridzzly. Some other graph paper sites include Printable Paper, Math Worksheet, Dynamic Paper, Free Online Graph Paper, & Math Bits.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2014/03/four-sources-of-print-on-demand-graph.html

I have been known to have a bit of heavy foot while driving. So it's ironic that I have been saying that speeding doesn't get you there much faster (in general). I even wrote a task about it about 10 years ago. You can download it here. But now you have the data to show you in what situations speeding could possibly pay off. Its a really great way to talk about rational functions.
Curriculum Tags: MCR3U
http://lifehacker.com/does-speeding-really-get-you-there-any-faster-1556767685

Lots of Articles this week. Here's one with our education minister talking about how we need to go back to basics. If she's on that bandwagon then I guess she doesn't get it.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/ontario-education-minister-wants-the-basics-learn-your-multiplication-tables/article17666049/

Not so much for intermediate and senior math but none the less the idea is still good. In terms of problem solving we don't tap into our youngest kids enough
Curriculum Tags: All
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/04/are-we-underestimating-the-math-powers-of-our-youngest-students/

Here's an article on how women are using their training in STEM fields to create entirely new jobs
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/03/this-is-not-your-fathers-stem-job/359684/

This post about the statistical probability that global warming is happening (99.9%). But those deniers will then say "So there's a chance". Totally reminds me of this clip from Dumb and Dumber
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MBF3C, MDM4U
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-statistical-probability-that-climate-change-is-natural-is-01-percent

Who knew Cindy Crawford when to school for Chemical Engineering (I'm sure some did)? But listen to her talk about how she was on the wrong end of a stereotype from her calculus prof
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/01/cindy-crawford-calculus-professor-judgment_n_5065616.html

I was shopping with my daughter the other day and saw this sign for a sale. I like it because the implication is that it's a 60% discount but, in fact, the successive discounts work out to 52%. The math is all right on the sign but it would be a good discussion for grade 7&8 students about percents.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
instagram.com/p/mduvdTx66Y/

Some common thoughts about cancer that data shows is false

1. Unless treated, cancer is fatal
2. The earlier you diagnose and treat it the greater the chance of being cured

The article below talks about how those two are not necessarily true. As a hint, take a look at the graph below.
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U
http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/102/9/605.full

Some fun examples of bad math. I have seen some of these before but these two below I haven't
Curriculum Tags: All
https://sftimes.co/?id=411

Math Links for Week Ending Sept. 6th, 2013

I really like this example from the Mathalicious blog (even though they make a spelling mistake in the title - though @mathtans suggests this is on purpose prisn = prison). I saw this graphic earlier in the week when the blogsophere was making fun of it but Mathalicious has found a way to make it relevant to the math classroom. It deals with the idea of false positives in large samples. I have always gravitated to these examples as they really accentuate the problems with any sort of testing where the results are based on a probability or percentage.
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U
http://www.mathalicious.com/2013/09/prisn/



I have been starting to create some simple Geometer's Sketchpad files that could be used as a Minds On or intro to lessons. This one is a simple sketch that allows students to visualize a guess of how big a percentage is. They can check their answer, get a hint and then reset the question so it randomly changes the situation. It was designed to use the iPad version of GSP, Sketch Explorer. Try it out
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P, MAT1L
http://sketchexchange.keypress.com/sketch/view/823/percent-guesser

Here is a nice application of percent that is very real world. Dealing with percents of percents when talking about resource use on an Android phone.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P, MAT1L
http://www.androidcentral.com/new-google-services-uses-more-battery-old-and-google-needs-fix-battery-screen-already


I like this activity because its hands on and its about sampling. Specifically dealing with the idea of the effects of sample size. Thanks to Dan Meyer for this one.
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U
http://17goldenfish.com/2013/04/23/first-past-the-post-and-the-dreaded-disease-z/





Here is a nice real world optimization problem that deals with perimeter, area and money. Basically, how much money would you save to try to build this playpen on your own. Thanks to Dan Meyer for this one too.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
http://mtsmc.blogspot.ca/2013/04/patio-math-toddler-edition.html






I don't want to spread negativity but this blog post about a Khan Academy video seems right on. It kind of exemplifies how the Khan videos are not really stelar in terms of the teaching (in this case having out right mistakes). They serve a purpose but they shouldn't be your go to resource. But that is not really why I like this post. I liked it because it uses something I hadn't heard of before (or at least didn't know the name of before). Using a two-way table instead of a Venn diagram. I agree that this seems to be way more informative than the Venn diagram. Check it out.
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U
http://learnandteachstatistics.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/khan-academy-probability/


There has been a lot of blog posts about analyzing Double Stuffed Oreo's to see if they are actually double stuffed. Here is a tweak dealing with systems of equations.
Curriculum Tags: MPM2D, MFM2P
http://christopherdanielson.wordpress.com/2013/09/04/college-algebra-with-christopher/


Yummy Math has a nice activity that uses an infographic from visual.ly about the amount of caffeine in various coffees. As it is with all Yummy Math activities there is a worksheet but if you want the solutions and an editable version of the worksheet.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
http://www.yummymath.com/2013/how-much-caffeine/

I think that these four suggestions are good though more relevant as kids are younger. I certainly agree that speaking well of math is the first step. We have an uphill battle in the math arena since most people have an easy time dissing math and of course that filters down to kids and then we get them as students. But I like the suggestion to play games. Using dice, cards, and problems solving skills on a regular basis is going to help kids in math class. Check out the other tips here.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.edudemic.com/2013/08/four-tips-parents-encourage-math-skills-home/

I think this building was designed by Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz. An application of parabolic focussing.
Curriculum links: MFM2P, MPM2D, MCR3U, MCF3M, MBF3C
http://io9.com/new-skyscraper-unexpectedly-generates-a-solar-beam-that-1263670017

Here is a scientific and topical example of periodic phenomenon. The reversing of the Sun's magnetic field. Could possibly be modelled with a sinusoidal function with a period of 11 years. Thanks to Joe Goulet for this one.
Curriculum Tags: MCR3U
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/09/the-suns-magnetic-field-is-about-to-reverse/