Math Links for Week Ending July 15th, 2016

OK so the secret is out. If you were at #Descon16, that is. That was the pre Twitter Math Camp conference put on by @Desmos and it seems like they have sneakily released some new features ( I wasn't actually there but I'll leave it to you to figure out how I found out). First of all Teacher.Desmos.com has a new look and now they have created "Bundles" of activities.  But more importantly they have a couple of new Activity Builder features that are part of their "Labs" section. Firstly, you can now apparently, create your own MarbleSlides activities. And my new favourite, they have a new Card Sort activity builder. If you've ever done a card sort activity, now you can do one without actually making cards. See the video below and this quick repository of some card sorts made at #DesCon16 this year. I'm sure that @Desmos will have some blog posts about them soon but for now you can turn on Labs by login in and then clicking on your name, then click on Labs. Thanks to @marybourassa and @MrSurti for pointing me in the right direction.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://teacher.desmos.com/labs
http://blog.desmos.com/post/147457148184/friday-five-for-july-15

Need an interesting modelling data for exponential functions? How about Harry Potter. If you saw the scene where the gold cups kept multiplying every time they were moved then you may be familiar with it. He asks the question "How long would it take for the room to fill up? " and you can get all the analysis and goods from @rjallain at the link below
Curriculum Tags: MCR3U, MCT4C, MHF4U, MAP4C
http://www.wired.com/2016/07/heres-just-long-treasure-trap-harry-potter-take-kill/

Some thoughts on why we should teach math and why everyone can do it.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/06/the-math-myth/485852/

Some great fun with consecutive coin flips from @numberphile. These are great conversations to have with students about probability
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MBF3C, MDM4U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDw2Pu0-H4g

Kudos to these kids who not only parodied a song (Weezer's My Name is Jonas) but played the song themselves too.
Curriculum Tags: MCV4U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFki7IkvAtA

Geometry and Pole Dancing meet. Why not?
Curriculum Tags: All
https://vimeo.com/159800107

I always liked the pseudo graphs that they create on Indexed from @jessicahagy. They are great for helping kids to decide what graphs mean in a fun way.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
http://thisisindexed.com/2016/06/how-to-torture-people/