Math Links for Week Ending May 29th, 2015

We have just posted a new activity on our Engaging Math blog. This one has students arrange various linear equations in order of steepness (to begin) and then it moves on from there. It's a great activity because it takes something that is typically mundane (rearranging equations) and turns it into something more game like.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM2P
http://engaging-math.blogspot.ca/2015/05/increasing-order-of-steepness.html

You have heard me mention @marybourassa's daily warm up routine before (she blogs about them here and here) and here is another. I like this, not because it uses some of the same resources (Estimation 180, Would you Rather etc) but that it has a nice routine and a student hand out to keep up with that routine each day. Check it out here:
Curriculum Tags: All
https://laviemathematique.wordpress.com/2015/05/03/daily-warm-up-routine/




And speaking of @marybourassa, she has posted a formal summary of her OAME session called Rethinking Math Class. Everything from Quadratic Headbandz, to warmups to WODB to a host of other activities that we did as a carousel. Even if you missed it there are lots of things her that you can pull from. Definitely check it out
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM1P, MPM2D, MFM2P, MCF3M, MBF3C, MCR3U, MHF4U, MCV4U
http://marybourassa.blogspot.ca/2015/05/oame-2015-rethinking-math-class.html

And along the same lines is this nice set of resource links that could be used as starting points or warmups in any math class. And if you haven't started following this blog, you should do so as it was born of the Math Twitter Blog-O-Sphere
Curriculum Tags: All
https://exploremtbos.wordpress.com/2015/05/09/resources/

Another one from the MTBoS crew is this post on organizing your blog reading. I think this is a very important feature that anyone who reads blogs should heed. And on a related note Dan Meyer has a series of videos that are all about using various tools. He calls them Perplexity Tutorials. See the one below on Blogs and see the rest here.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://exploremtbos.wordpress.com/2015/05/02/organize/

Andrew Stadel has blogged about questioning before and here is a followup post with sources for good questions to ask students.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://mr-stadel.blogspot.ca/2015/05/questioning-strategies-from-mtbos.html

In the same vein as the Cheryl problem a few weeks ago, here is a old problem attributed to Einstein that also deals with logic. Given a bunch of criteria, you are to determine who has a fish as a pet (amongst 5 people). It reminds me a lot of the old game Sherlock which uses the same type of logical thinking.  Though this one seems to be a bit harder. Give it a try apparently only 2% of us can solve it.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2015/may/04/einsteins-election-riddle-are-you-in-the-two-per-cent-that-can-solve-it
Solution: http://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2015/may/04/how-to-solve-einsteins-election-riddle-are-you-in-that-two-per-cent

I saw this number sense activity as I was watching one of the Vsauce videos (below) and tried it out. I was disappointed that I wasn't at the top of the results. Maybe I don't have good number sense. The premiss is that you are shown an image of blue and yellow dots (for 600 ms each) and then have to decide which colour has the most. It's harder than it sounds (he said knowing that he didn't do well). Give it a try here and help them with their research.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.panamath.org/index.php

Eugenia Cheng likes food and math. So she brought them together in her new book How to Bake Pi. Here she talks about how she combines cooking and math on Science Friday
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/05/08/2015/eugenia-cheng-how-to-bake-pi.html

I have mentioned DragonBox before as a good app to help teach algebra. Here is an article where the creator of the app states he doesn't like to associate the app with algebra. In fact, he says that it's about "speed and imagination" and not the speed associated with drill and kill but instead the speed he is referring to is the speed of learning.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://qz.com/390854/the-video-game-that-teaches-algebra-to-4-year-olds/

"I'm just not a Math Person" we have all heard it from students and parents (and teachers!). In this article from Wired, you might find some things to say when people confront you and say that ugly saying
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.wired.com/2015/05/im-just-not-math-person/

This is a neat exercise in combinatorics in the real world. Some neat ideas that might be worth discussing in a Data Management class.
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8WsO__XcI0

In this Vsauce video it starts off being about counting but actually moves into the idea of logarithms and approximations.
Curriculum Tags: MHF4U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pxb5lSPLy9c

I just stumbled on this site earlier this week and there is a lot of fun (and serious) stuff. Even though it's called Calculus Humour, it's not all about calculus.
Curriculum Tags: all
http://www.calculushumor.com/calculus-humor/shit-just-got-real