Friday, September 4, 2015

Math Links for Week Ending Sept. 4th, 2015

I have mixed feelings about this. I really loved the original TED-Ed talk that showed how finding the midpoint of a line segment is pivotal in animation at Pixar. Now Pixar has teamed up with the Khan Academy to come up with several modules that build upon that original video. There are a lot of videos of Pixar employees talking about the math needed to make animations and teaching some math along the way with interactives and lessons. It's all really good as it gives some real connections for the math. The issue I have is when they get to the actual math, they miss an opportunity. They get the kids interested in this stuff and needing a reason to do the math and then they just tell them the math. That would be a perfect opportunity to have them discover the math (when you have them interested). I guess the good news is that the sections are so modular that you can just insert your own discovery portions to augment that. The topics covered include: midpoint, weighted average, transformations, trig and combinatorics. It is definitely worth a look. Or at least look at this article about the project.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM2D, MFM2P, MDM4U
https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/pixar


A new blog has emerged from the MTBoS. Better Questions mission is to have an open discussion on how to ask better questions in math class. It will have possible questions to ask, what actually got asked, what students asked and what they wished they had asked. The blog has only been around for a few weeks but there are many posts already so head on over there to get a sense of the discussion or to contribute yourself. Thanks to @marybourassa for pointing this out
Curriculum Tags: All

I have been using and promoting the idea of a close line number line for a few years now (check out the banner image of my other blog to see an example).  Andrew Stadel's recent blog post is about the different ways to use a number line. We like keeping them up in class all the time and they can be used in just about every grade. I personally am a fan of using them with functions (ie place x on a numberline - where would 2x go?)
Curriculum Tags: All
http://mr-stadel.blogspot.ca/2015/08/clothesline.html

I love when teachers are thoughtful enough to share a butt tonne of work. In this post @misscalcul8 shares her collection of class starters (she calls them Bell Ringers). They are made up of things I have mentioned before (which one doesn't belong, Estimation 180, SolveMe, 101qs) as well as some weekly Mental Math work. The great thing is that she has compiled them into a 180 page slideshow so you could literally do one of these a day for the entire year. Download the slideshow at the post below.
Curriculum Tags: All


I am a huge fan of the mashup of extreme sports and math. And @RobbieMaddison continues to give us examples of parabolas in real life. Below is the still, strobe image but at 6:15 in the video you get a perfect side shot of him dropping that could easily be analyzed with Tracker.
Curriculum Tags: MPM2D, MFM2P, MCR3U, MCF3M, MBF3C
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=36&v=_VHaQeY88po
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_VHaQeY88po/maxresdefault.jpg



I am not sure how long this existed but this Tumblr is new to me. Geometry Matters is a Tumblr that highlights geometry found. A recent post goes along with one I showed last week about a new pentagon that was found to tile the plane. Check out the blog here and the link on Tiling Planes (with a bunch of animated gifs at the link below)
Curriculum Tags: All
http://geometrymatters.tumblr.com/post/127314590769/npr-skunkbear-big-math-news-its-been



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