Math Links for Week Ending Nov. 25th, 2016

I have been working on a series of WebSketches to help students practice rotation of shapes. The latest one was about rotations. This one took me way longer than it should have but I think I worked all the kinks out. It starts out with simple rotation of shapes by dragging them that could be done by grade 6 students and then ends up with rotation of individual points by plotting points. All along the way new random problems can be generated.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
http://engaging-math.blogspot.ca/p/web-sketches.html

Someone just fell in love with proportional reasoning. This post from @mathletepearce takes the idea of proportional reasoning from kindergarten to grade 9 in this massive post. He starts with the concepts of multiplicative and additive thinking and ends with multiple representations for the same problem. Sometimes I think proportions are not given their proper due and they are one of the most important topics (IMHO) we teach in math. So it is good that he treats them with such depth here.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://tapintoteenminds.com/progression-of-proportional-reasoning/

I love this idea of using stop motion animation to have kids working through patterning problems. Sometimes it is a tweak like this that allows students to engage in something that normally they wouldn't. For example, this simple growing pattern was created by @MrOrr_Geek's students. Read on to see how he facilitated it.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
http://mrorr-isageek.com/animated-patterns-gallery-walk/

One thing that has become apparent to me over the years of being a consultant is that when we brush over simple math with rules without contemplating the conceptual understanding, we become the ones that cause students to never have a chance at understanding math. Case in point, subtraction of integers. As kids, many of us learned integer operations by just being told a bunch of rules and often those of us that became teachers were also those kinds of students who learned those rules because the teacher said to. But what we didn't realize was that much or the rest of the class did not. Cut to when we become teachers, we assume that because those methods worked for us they should work for our students. Then we wonder why they didn't. By that long winded introduction, I love that @MarkChubb3 has taken on the nature of integer subtraction by first contemplating it as either the removal of something or the difference of two things. Read on to get some insight on why we need conceptual understanding.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MFM1P, MPM1D
https://buildingmathematicians.wordpress.com/2016/11/25/subtracting-integers-do-you-see-it-as-removal-or-difference/

I have mentioned the site PrepAnywhere before as a place for Ontario teachers who want to flip their classes to find videos and worksheets for students based on the textbooks we are using for the course. @mglMin has started to create some vlogs to help the users along.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://prepanywhere.tumblr.com/

I love these hidden algebra problems. If a student saw these simultaneous equations but written, instead, with variables they would have a dear in headlights look. But present it like this and you can get kids of all ages engaging and solving it.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
https://www.facebook.com/McDonaldsSuriname/photos/a.333402930055977.78494.293853560677581/1224887487574179/?type=3&theater

Math Links for Week Ending Nov. 18, 2016

 I'm happy that a lot of the MathClips are becoming apps so that they can be used on tablets easier (specifically iPads). I just noticed that the Colour Tiles manipulative is now an app. Keep em coming MathClips Team
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P, MFM2P
http://www.mathies.ca/apps.php

 I like it when you can take a simple idea and make a clean little activity out of it. In this case @MaryBourassa with this activity on analytic geometry (median, altitude, etc). It's the little tweaks that make these activities nice. In this case, rather than just giving kids a problem to work on in pairs, we have kids verifying with each other so there is self checking.
Curriculum Tags: MPM2D
http://marybourassa.blogspot.ca/2016/11/median-altitude-perpendicular-bisector.html


I always loved using these map based data sets when I was teaching Data Management. Such a fun way to use Fathom. Thanks @RossIsen for bringing this back for the recent US election.
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U
http://mathfest.blogspot.ca/2016/11/a-little-late-to-us-election-party.html







I like the idea of coding in math class but I am still not convinced it will always get the results you want (IE the kids learn to code and learn the math at the same time). That being said, I am always happy when math teachers share there coding/math activities. This one is from @DaveLanovas and deals with polygon angles in Scratch.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM1P
http://sine-of-the-times.blogspot.ca/2016/11/exploring-polygon-relationships-in.html

I saw this on the latest episode of Mr. D. If you are having trouble teaching your students then change things up so you are speaking on their level. Here Mr. D tries to teach dividing fractions to some prison inmates. Note there is some implied swearing here so watch at your own risk.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://youtu.be/cZArwQ4wdV0

We'll see if @ddmeyer will use this in his #PsuedoMathSaturdays post. It is a little hard to figure out what they are asking at first (due to some EU maths language) but ultimately, the question is trying to determine whether the triangles are right triangles.
Curriculum Tags: Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3938462/Paul-Pogba-s-trademark-dab-celebration-turned-maths-question-Manchester-United-star-fan.html

Math Links for Week Ending Nov. 11, 2016

I really liked this week's MacLeans magazine cover. Asking whether the tally actually matches 1560 could be a great problem for just about any grade level but if you wanted to match it specifically to expectations, I would think it would be about areas of irregular shape. I saw it on Tuesday morning and used it in a workshop with teachers and it was great how different the approaches were. You can get a printable version here.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
https://twitter.com/davidpetro314/status/795962806684291072

It starts out looking relatively simple with the first question of how many panels are there but it very quickly ramps up to a nice series of rate questions dealing with how much energy they generate and how many homes they power.
Curriulum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MFM1P, MPM1D
https://tapintoteenminds.com/3act-math/solar-panels/


I do like my geometric candy. Here is some controversy with a modification of the shape of the Toblerone bar. Certainly you could generate a math problem out of this.
Curriculum Tags: MPM1D, MFM2P
https://twitter.com/davidpetro314/status/795967590724157440

Thank's again @Toblerone for providing the context to do some great math on volume of irregular shapes https://t.co/Fxul23vDkz #mathchat

— David Petro (@davidpetro314) November 8, 2016

I just had this conversation with a teacher. We feel like we have to give students full solutions because that is part of our job but in doing that we are the ones doing the work. Just because students see a correct solution doesn't mean they will learn how to solve the problem. They have to have the struggle. Read more about the six reasons @dsladkey says he won't give them anymore.

Curriculum Tags: All
http://teachhighschoolmath.blogspot.ca/2016/10/6-reasons-why-im-not-giving-worked-out.html

This is a few months old but I like the sentiment. The idea that we should teach at the speed of learning from Phil Daro. Thanks to @MarkChubb3 for pointing this one out.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://vimeo.com/158223152
Daro Teach at the Speed of Learning from rpdent on Vimeo.

I always like a good sketchnote. I wasn't at the OAME Leadership conference last week but @RoyanLee had this nice summary of day one from @JoBoaler
Curriculum Tags: All
http://royanlee.com/?p=5094

More #smudgedmath from @pgliljedahl. This time with something that relates to order of operations.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
https://twitter.com/pgliljedahl/status/796403269778087940

The paper is smudged. What can the answer be? Discuss. #SmudgedMath pic.twitter.com/32tOOftUlH

— Peter Liljedahl (@pgliljedahl) November 9, 2016

Math Links for Week Ending Nov. 4th, 2016

Hey, this is my 200th Ontario Math links. it's hard to believe that I've been doing this for almost 4 years. Thanks for all the encouragement along the way. And what a good week to see this featured link. One of the things that has really taken off in the four years I've done this blog is all the sharing and this one interactive slide from @Jstevens009 does a great job of showing a lot of the great (and big) projects that you all have shared. I even learned of a few I hadn't heard of before (Number Talk Images from @Pierre_Tranche and Counting Circles from @JessicaShumway & @wahedahbug) Way to go #MTBoS
Curriculum Tags: All
Estimation 180, Fraction Talks, Number Talks Images,  Graphing Stories, Math Talks, Daily Desmos, 101qs, Would You Rather, WODB,  Open Middle, Counting Circles, Visual Patterns

I've been adding to my Rational Functions activities. This time with an investigation into the properties of the function f(x) =  (ax+b)/(cx+d) . The idea is that students would do this as homework that walks them throught the properties and then you as the teacher consolidate it the next day. It's a bit long but should only take them between 30-50 min.
Curriculum Tags: MHF4U
https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/5812204c56f79a01065dc84d



Another cool Desmos activity that has nothing to do with graphing. This one is from @RilesBlue and it's about putting fractions on a number line. And as an added bonus, there are full lesson descriptions of what you will likely see when you run this.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
https://jennvadnais.com/2016/10/29/desmos-ordering-fractions-on-a-number-line/





A new 3Act task from @mathletepearce. This time on percents and proportional reasoning dealing with discounts on purchases. Click on the link for all the videos and instructions.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
https://tapintoteenminds.com/3act-math/calvins-clearance/



Here's a nice little Desmos card sort on Sampling Techniques from @Kmanna15
Curriculum Tags: MBF3C, MDM4U
https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/581b1f3b2d2c37170b22e0a9#

A couple of opinions that are fairly similar on the misplaced "need" to make all the math in math class relevant to real life. The first is from @MathGarden and speaks to the beauty in math as the real goal.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://bullshit.ist/stop-selling-math-for-its-usefulness-d9143e80d78d#.f6neb5eey

And the second is from @NatBanting and is a bit more direct in speaking about the problem with forcing the connections but says a lot of the same things.
Curriculum Tags: All
http://musingmathematically.blogspot.ca/2016/11/real-world-attack-on-relevance.html

Seeing as this week @JoBoaler was speaking at the OAME Leadership conference, then I guess it is very timely to see her write an article talking about why math education doesn't add up in the US.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-math-education-in-the-u-s-doesn-t-add-up/

Here's a great video that could be a starter to a question dealing with circumference. Maybe something where you have a log with a certain diameter and are pealing off layers of a certain thickness to determine how much you might get in length.
Curriculum Tags: Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
https://twitter.com/SciencePorn/status/793879919315001344

Peeling logs for wood veneer! pic.twitter.com/4T7nPXiRap

— SciencePorn 🚀 (@SciencePorn) November 2, 2016

Does it matter that the image is taken at a perspective if you are trying to find the "centre" of the triangle?
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
https://twitter.com/TheErickLee/status/792756812856647683

Is the tree planted in the center of the triangle? Where is the center? ... incenter, circumcenter, etc. pic.twitter.com/QXBulUmnWf

— Erick Lee (@TheErickLee) October 30, 2016

I love this graph. Can you us it to predict the number of plays this Christmas? Looks like it could be an exponential relationship. You can see the data yourself if you go to the video and click on More then Statistics
Curriculum Tags: MCR3U, MDM4U, MHF4U, MCT4C
https://twitter.com/TheErickLee/status/792756812856647683

All I Want for Christmas is You https://t.co/4K5Q9GrNxx #dataviz pic.twitter.com/an6fOINS7D

— /r/DataIsBeautiful (@DataIsBeautiful) November 3, 2016

A very cool interactive visualization on the colours on the history of Crayola crayons. And don't forget to click the arrows on the top to see some of the other visualizations.
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U
https://public.tableau.com/en-us/s/gallery/history-crayola-colors

Here's a cool image you could use when talking about the surface area of spheres.
Curriculum Tags: MFM1P, MPM1D
https://twitter.com/pgliljedahl/status/791906761909243904

How many individual flowers to make this sphere? #Taiwan pic.twitter.com/lJGZCXCIsQ

— Peter Liljedahl (@pgliljedahl) October 28, 2016

And then go and do some estimating with spheres
Curriculum Tags: MFM1P, MPM1D
https://twitter.com/pgliljedahl/status/792272755165007872

Hexagonal prism. How many marbles? #Taiwan pic.twitter.com/XolSq6jWA6

— Peter Liljedahl (@pgliljedahl) October 29, 2016

And speaking of the OAME Leadership Conference, check out the back channel from this year's event here. I saw the tweet below and thought it was great: Math does not equal computation, it is so much more.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/oameleadership2016?src=hash

What is mathematics? #oameleadership2016 #SRMaths pic.twitter.com/ljGR9Qba1E

— Melissa Tan (@meltandemelo) November 4, 2016