Math Links for Week Ending Dec. 1st, 2017

In his latest post @MrOrrGeek peels back the curtain a bit to tell us about two things: "Igniting his moves" with, among other things,references to " The Five Practices of Productive Mathematics Discussion" and "Fuel Sense Making" where he talks about how to roll with what students do. And he does it all with a nice simple microwave context.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
http://mrorr-isageek.com/fuel-sense-making-black-box-defrost/

Although this post is a year old, I just saw it for the first time this week. Here @Anniekperkins takes the idea that mathematicians aren't just white dudes to new heights. She drops the following challenge: "Take 10-15 minutes a week to research (read Wikipedia, that’s all you need) a not-old-dead-white-dude mathematician, and then take 5 minutes in class to tell your students about them. " And then she's done most of the work for you. Lists and links of tonnes of mathematicians of all types. Thanks to @ddmeyer for this one.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://arbitrarilyclose.com/2016/08/21/the-mathematicians-project-mathematicians-are-not-just-white-dudes/


We have been creating these continuums of math problems on different topics at different grade levels. We have found that students actually really like working on them as practice. We have literally heard them say "Am I sick? Because I think this is fun". In this case, the topic is solving rational equations and inequalities.
Curriculum Tags: MHF4U
http://engaging-math.blogspot.ca/2017/11/rational-functions-continuum.html



With Christmas coming up, why not do some math with a fun survey about the best dancers in the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. But beyond that I think you could have kids do the calculations on all the different possible pairings there could be in the matchups to connect to combinatorics.
Curriculum Tags: MDM4U 
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-a-charlie-brown-christmas-special-dancers-you-most-want-to-party-with/

Understanding and dealing with large numbers is a problem for humans. So to help out, Scientific American has some resources on dealing with connecting with big numbers to help determine whether they are, in fact, big.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/millions-billions-trillions-how-to-make-sense-of-numbers-in-the-news/

In a recent podcast from More or Less they look at the possible reason that albums are getting longer. The short answer is - more tracks means more potential clicks and higher chart placing. There is some interesting info about Spotify. I'm thinking you could have some conversations about rate using the information here about things like how many clicks is equated to one "purchase" - 1500 plays equates to one record sale. Listen at the link below
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05mpr59

 On the Podcast, My Favourite Theorem they interview mathematicians and ask what their favourite theorem is. Though the theorems are not always k-12 centric, on this recent episode you find out how this mathematician connects Pythagorean Theorem with his Navajo identity.
Curriculum Tags: Gr8, MPM1D, MFM1P, MPM2D, MFM2P
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/roots-of-unity/henry-fowlers-favorite-theorem/

I've mentioned John Urschel before. He's the NFL player and MIT PHD math student who quit pro football once the data started coming out on the connection to brain damage and the NFL. Here's a recent story about why he chose math over football.
Curriculum Tags: All
https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/11/21/john-urschel-nfl-ravens-mit-mathematics

An interesting article on whether math is truly innate in humans
Curriculum Tags: All
https://aeon.co/essays/why-do-humans-have-numbers-are-they-cultural-or-innate

I have been meaning to try the Mathies Notepad App for a while. So I made this (long) video on dividing fractions using a numberline to do so.
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD9qSCNUFjs

Do you want to have a bit of fun with students and formulas. Try this:
Curriculum Tags: Gr7, Gr8
https://xkcd.com/1923/