11 Mathematics Resources to Try in 2011

To start off the new year, each day this week I'll be posting a list of eleven resources to try in a particular content area. Today's list is for mathematics teachers, tomorrow's list will be for science teachers.

Brain Nook is a virtual world in which students can practice their mathematics and English skills. Brain Nook provides students with a series of scenarios that they have to resolve by answering mathematics and language arts questions. The first scenario presented to me when I tried out Brain Nook required me to earn coins to buy materials for a vehicle that I would then use to explore one of the virtual worlds. I could earn coins by answering questions correctly. Brain Nook presents students with questions based on their skill levels which is determined by a quick pre-assessment and adjusted as they progress through Brain Nook's virtual worlds. 

Learn Your Tables is a neat little site for students to use to learn and develop multiplication skills. The site offers two basic games on two different levels. The most basic game is a simple drag and drop activity in which students match equations to their correct answers. The more "advanced" game has students enter the correct answer to a multiplication question. The easier of the two levels only contains problems from one multiplication table while the more difficult level contains problems from multiple multiplication tables.

Ten Marks, an online mathematics tutoring service, offers a free program for teachers. Ten Marks for educators is designed to be a supplement to classroom instruction, not a replacement for it.
Ten Marks provides educators with an online forum in which they can assign mathematics practice problems to students and track their students' progress. If a student gets stuck on a problem he or she can open a tutorial to help him or her through the problem. Ten Marks provides teachers with the option to CC parents on the assignments sent to students. The online curriculum provided by Ten Marks can be aligned to the state standards a teacher chooses.

Yummy Math is a website designed for the purpose of sharing mathematics problems and scenarios based on things happening in the world today. For example, the activity for December 4th was based on Lebron James's return to Cleveland. Yummy Math lists activities chronologically as well as by mathematics subject area. Two mathematics teachers, Brian Marks and Leslie Lewis, developed Yummy Math and welcome suggestions from other mathematics teachers. 

Web2.0calc is a free online scientific calculator. While it won't replace the TI-84 Plus, it can do what your average high school student needs it to do. The best part is, you don't have to use it on the Web2.0calc site because they offerthree widgets that you can use to embed the calculator into your own blog or website.

Math Open Reference is a free online reference for geometry teachers and students. Math Open Reference features animated and interactive drawings to demonstrate geometry terms and concepts. The table of contents on Math Open Reference is divided into four basic categories; plane geometry, coordinate geometry, solid geometry, and function explorer tools. Click on any subject in the first three categories to find definitions, examples, and interactive drawings. In the function explorer category users can select linear functions, quadratic functions, or cubic functions to explore how changes in variables affect the graphed output.

When it comes to creative uses of Google tools, Tom Barrett is certainly a leader that we can all learn from. A great example of this can be found in Tom's Math Maps. Math Maps are Google Maps on which Tom and others have created placemarks which when clicked reveal mathematics questions for students to answer based on the maps. There are questions available for every elementary school grade level. The placemarks are color-coded to indicate the level of the questions. Blue = Kindergarten, Red = 1st grade, Green = 2nd grade, Light Blue = 3rd grade, Yellow = 4th grade, Purple = 5th grade. Visit Tom Barrett's Math Maps page to view the existing Math Maps and read about how to contribute to the existing Math Maps.

Math Live is a neat mathematics website developed by Learn Alberta. Math Live presents students with animated stories that teach mathematics lessons. In all there are twenty-three lessons for elementary school and middle school students. The lessons are divided into four categories; Number, Patterns and Relations, Shape and Space, Statistics and Probability. Each animated lesson is accompanied by a mathematics worksheet that students complete either while watching the lesson or after viewing the lesson. Each lesson is divided into sections and students can advance or rewind as needed.

Conceptua Math is a provider of interactive visual mathematics lessons. Conceptua Math's primary focus is on the development of tools to aid teachers in the instruction of lessons on fractions. Conceptua Math's offerings are a mix of free and premium (paid) tools. There are a total of fifteen free interactive tools for teachers and students. Each of the free tools has an introductory video and a sample lesson plan.

If you've seen Dan Meyer's TED Talk, Math Class Needs a Makeover, you already know that he's an awesome educator. If you haven't seen his talk, go watch it now then come back to this post. This past summer Dan Meyer published his entire 38 week Algebra curriculum complete with slides, handouts, and just about everything you need in order to deliver the lessons. You can download each week individually or download the entire collectionas one file. Dan Meyer also has his entire 38 week Geometry curriculumavailable for free. Again, you can download each week individually or download the entire collection as one file.

Plus Magazine is a free online publication dedicated to introducing readers to practical applications of mathematics. Plus Magazine strives to reach that goal through the publication of mathematics-related news articles, podcasts, and mathematics puzzles designed around "real-life" scenarios.

FROM: http://www.freetech4teachers.com

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Educational Lessons

http://www.neok12.com

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Arthur Benjamin's formula for changing math education

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Learn New Teaching Techniques

http://www.smartteaching.org/blog/2008/08/100-awesome-classroom-videos-to-learn-new-teaching-technihttp://www.smartteaching.org/blog/2008/08/100-awesome-classroom-videos-to-learn-new-teaching-techniques

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Beyond Slices of Pizza: Teaching Fractions Effectively

part 1

The final report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel paid close attention to “proficiency with fractions…for such proficiency is foundational for algebra and, at the present time, seems to be severely underdeveloped.” This webcast, showcases best practices when it comes to the teaching of fractions. How do teachers and school district personnel ensure deep “conceptual and procedural knowledge of fractions,” as stated by the national math panel report …

Part2

Part3

Part4

Part5

Part6

Part7

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Teaching Elementary Math

If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is. ~John Louis von Neumann
“The essence of mathematics is not to make simple things complicated, but to make complicated things simple.” S. Gudder
Someone asked me once: “Why do you pay so much importance to math? Is that any good for you? Why do you like it? “. And I said: “what do I win with math? Everything… J
Math changes the way I think and my approach to life. It helps me to get better organized and see things in better perspective. It makes a major contribution to my personal development and to my cognitive transformation.
Math develops reasoning and reasoning helps in just about everything. To understand math means to understand its principles and to apply them in the very daily life. Math is not just calculus and drawing pictures, math is more than that – it is learning to approach a situation, to find the optimum solutions for it and to search for and delete any possible cases in its way.

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Going Beyond Math Story Problems

I’m an elementary mathematics methods professor at the University of Oklahoma and recently I coordinated a project to help pre-service teachers create stories with math questions that are enhanced with technology.Small groups of elementary pre-service teachers collaborated by posting (non-consecutively) to a wiki (on www.wikispaces.com) in order to co-create a “story of the day” and math questions related to the story that also aligned to an elementary math standard.  Each pre-service teacher also created a Voki (See these electronic avatars at www.voki.com.) and embedded it in the story to add an additional element of interest.  There is an example of a Harry Potter theme-based story with math problems appropriate for 3rd graders at www.xyzproblem1.wikispaces.com – click on Problem of the Day 1.  Problem of the Days (2 – 6) are first drafts created by the pre-service teachers.  If you are interested in trying to create a similar project the Home page outlines not only the complete project but also gives instructions for embedding a Voki into the story.  Just one word of caution – check the age limit on the terms of agreement on the Voki site.

Sacra Nicholas

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certificate creater

Reward and motivation for students is a key for self improvement and growth in life. Being a teacher , I have felt this many times that in a classroom, only good teaching is not sufficient for students.

Are you motivating your students ? No problem. There is an easy way to reward your students.

I found something interesting ...an online certificate creator.

All you need to do is type the name of your student ...choose a style...and print.

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Math time Tools for kids

Here I am going to share some online web resources which may add a flavour to teaching mathematics in a classroom.

• This is a link of available online clock which I used with my daughter for teaching her about time related concept.
• Practice the concept of time through this available interactive time puzzle.
• This one is so interesting with which you can play and learn time concept.Children love to learn while playing and getting scores. So try this one.
• Wow! This one is like a clock in our hand. Try playing with it.

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million billion trillion...

1 million = 10^6 = 1 000 000

1 billion = 10 ^9 = 1 000 000 000

1 trillion= 10^12 = 1 000 000 000 000

1 quadrillion = 10 ^15

1 quintillion = 10^18

1 sextillion = 10^21

1 septillion = 10^24

1 octillion = 10^27

1 nonillion = 10^30

1 decillion= 10^33

1 undecillion = 10^36

1 duodecillion = 10^39

1 tredecillion = 10^42

1 quatuordecillion = 10^45

1 quindecillion = 10^48

1 sexdecillion = 10^51

1 septendecillion = 10^54

1 octodecillion = 10^57

1 novemdecillion= 10^6o

1 vigintillion = 10^63

1 googol = 10^100

1 googolplex = 10^googol

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Area of a circle

Dear students ,
Watch this video and do the activity.

 

Aim
To find the area of a circle of given radius by paper folding,cutting and pasting.

Material Required
Coloured Paper
Pair of scissors
Fevistick/glue
Geometry Box

Method
Step 1 Cut a circle of given radius from the coloured paper.
Step 2 Divide the circle into 16 equal parts by paper folding.
Step 3 Cut 16 parts and arrange them to form a parallelogram.
Step 4 Take the last cutout and again divide it into 2 equal parts.
Step 5 Arrange the 2 parts and the shape in step 3 so that a rectangle is formed.
Step 6 Measure the length & breadth of the rectangle & calculate its area.

Observation
We observe that the cutouts of the circle are arranged to form a rectangle.
The length of the rectangle is equal to half of the circumference of the circle and breadth of the rectangle is equal to the radius of the circle.
The area of the circle is calculated using the formula of area of the rectangle.

Result
Length of Rectangle =____________________
Breadth of Rectangle=___________________
Area of Rectangle = ___________________

So, the Area of Circle = _________________

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محتويات كتاب رياضيات الصف الرابع

محتويات كتاب رياضيات الصف الرابع للعام الدراسي 2008/2009

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محتويات كتاب رياضيات الصف الرابع

محتويات كتاب رياضيات الصف الرابع للعام الدراسي 2008/2009

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This is what is wrong with so many US math curricula.

You probably know that in international comparisons,
US students don't do really well in math.

One reason for that can be found in comparing the typical math
curricula in those countries that do well, versus typical
curricula used in the USA.

The following article of mine is based on a report by William
Schmidt, Richard Houang, and Leland Cogan called A Coherent
Curriculum: The Case of Mathematics, which appeared in
Summer 2002 in American Educator.

Some differences that emerge are as follows. The US math
curricula tend to be

* not focused. No country in the world covers as many topics
as US in their mathematics textbooks. For example, in
Japan, eighth-grade textbooks have about 10 topics
whereas US books have over 30 topics.

* highly repetitive. The average duration of a topic in US is
almost 6 years (!) versus about 3 years in the best-
performing countries. Lots of spiraling and reviewing
is done. Like Schmidt says, "We introduce topics early and
then repeat them year after year. To make matters worse,
very little depth is added each time the topic is addressed
because each year we devote much of the time to reviewing

the topic."

* not very demanding by international standards, especially
in the middle-school. In the USA, students keep studying
basic arithmetic till 7th and 8th grade, whereas other
countries change to beginning concepts in algebra and
geometry.

* incoherent. The math books are like a collection of
arbitrary topics. Like Schmidt et al. say, "...in the United
States, mathematics standards are long laundry lists of
seemingly unrelated, separate topics."

What this means is that typically in the US, a math topic is
studied for a short time, and then the next one, and then the
next one, on and on. A good part of this short time is spent
reviewing previous year's knowledge. It follows that any
particular math topic is NEVER studied very deeply in any
given school year.

Also, during the school year, many topics are covered but not in
a coherent and logical order. Instead the topics tend to jump
here and there in somewhat of an arbitrary fashion.

So, the end result of following a curriculum that is like
hodgepodge and "inch deep and mile wide", by the end of eighth
grade US students are about two years behind their
counterparts in the best performing countries.


*******************************************
CHART WHICH I CAN'T SHOW IN THE EMAIL
*******************************************

I need you to click to my website to see these very revealing two
charts that show which topics are typically covered on which
grade, either in the States, or in the best performing countries.

I got a special permission from the main author of the
aforementioned report to reproduce these on my site.

You can continue reading the article there.

http://www.homeschoolmath.net/teaching/coherent-curriculum.php#chart

Sincerely,
Maria Miller

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Active Learning

• Babies and young children learn by actively investigating the world around them and through social activity with people.
  
• Children's interactions enable them to construct ideas and create a framework for thinking and learning that helps them to develop as learners.
  
• When children are actively involved in learning they are developing the mental structures that help them to think and move on; these are sometimes referred to as schemas (Athey, 1990).
  
• Practitioners contribute to children's active learning by creating the climate and conditions to promote their involvement.
  
• Making decisions is important in children's learning, putting them in control and enabling them to match their play to what they want to achieve.
  
• Children develop autonomy as learners by making and following through their decisions about their learning.
  
• Engaging children in active learning depends on understanding and building on what each child is familiar with, knows and can do.
  
• The range of activities available should enable all children to find something that is relevant to engage and sustain their interest.
  
• Good working relationships with parents help practitioners to provide inviting contexts that children recognize and can learn from.

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دراسة نقديه لكتب المنهج الجديد للرياضيات

اقدم على موقعي دراسه تقديه مفصله لكتب المنهج الجديد للصفوف الثلاث الاولى اتمنى المتابعه ومناقشتها لتعم الفائده

لقراءة الموصوع

دراسة نقديه لكتب المنهج الجديد للرياضيات

للمناقشه

منتدى الموقع

وجزاكم الله كل خير عن ابنائنا التلامبذ و زملائنا المدرسين

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Four habits of highly effective math teaching

If you were asked what were the most important principles in mathematics teaching, what would you say? I wasn't really asked, but I started thinking, and came up with these basic habits or principles that can keep your math teaching on the right track.

Habit 1: Let It Make Sense
Habit 2: Remember the Goals
Habit 3: Know Your Tools
Habit 4: Living and Loving Math

Habit 1: Let It Make Sense
Let us strive to teach for understanding of mathematical concepts and procedures, the "why" something works, and not only the "how".
This understanding, as I'm sure you realize, doesn't always come immediately. It may take even several years to grasp a concept. For example, place value is something kids understand partially at first, and then that deepens over a few years.
This is why many math curricula use spiraling: they come back to a concept the next year, and the next. And this can be very good if not done excessively (like for 5-6 years is probably excessive).
However, spiraling also has its own pitfalls: if your child doesn't get a concept, don't blindly "trust" the spiraling and think, "Well, she gets it the next year when the book comes back around to it."
The next year's schoolbook won't necessarily present the concept at the same level - the presentation might be too difficult. If a child doesn't "get it", they might need a very basic instruction for the concept again.
The "how" something works is often called procedural understanding: the child knows how to work long division, or the procedure of fraction addition or fraction division, for example. It is often possible to learn the "how" mechanically without understanding why it works. Procedures learned this way are often forgotten very easily.
The relationship between the "how" and the "why" - or between procedures and concepts - is complex. One doesn't always come totally before the other, and it also varies from child to child.
You can try alternating the instruction: teach how to add fractions, and let the student practice. Explain why it works. Go back to some practice. Back and forth. Sooner or later it should 'stick' - but it might be next year instead of this one, or after 6 months instead of in this month.
As a rule of thumb, don't totally leave a topic until the student both knows how, and understands the 'why'.
Tip: you can often test a student's understanding of a topic by asking HIM to produce an example, preferably with a picture or other illustration: "Tell me an example of multiplying fractions by whole numbers, and draw a picture." Whatever gets produced can tell the teacher a lot about what has been understood.
-------------------------------

Habit 2: Remember the Goals
What are the goals of your math teaching? Are they...
to finish the book by the end of school year
make sure the kids pass the test ...?
Or do you have goals such as:
My student can add, simplify, and multiply fractions
My student can divide by 10, 100, and 1000.
These are all just "subgoals". But what is the ultimate goal of learning school mathematics?
Consider these goals:
Students need to be able to navigate their lives in this ever-so-complex modern world.
This involves dealing with taxes, loans, credit cards, purchases, budgeting, shopping. Our youngsters need to be able to handle money wisely. All that requires good understanding of parts, proportions, and percents.
Another very important goal of mathematics education as a whole is to enable the students to understand information aroud us. In today's world, this includes quite a bit of scientific information. Being able to read through it and make sense of it requires knowing big and small numbers, statistics, probability, percents.
And then one more. We need to prepare our students for further studies in math and science. Not everyone ultimately needs algebra, but many do, and teens don't always know what profession they might choose or end up with.
I'd like to add one more broad goal of math education: teaching deductive reasoning. Of course geometry is a good example of this, but when taught properly, other areas of school math can be as well.
The more you can keep these big real goals in mind, the better you can connect your subgoals to them. And the more you can keep the goals and the subgoals in mind, the better teacher you will be.
For example, adding, simplifying, and multiplying fractions all connects with a broader goal of understanding parts or part and whole. It will soon lead to ratios, proportions, and percent. Also, all fraction operations are a needed basis for solving rational equations and doing the operations with rational expressions (during algebra studies).
Tying in with the goals, remember that the BOOK or CURRICULUM is just a tool to achieve the goals -- not a goal in itself. Don't ever be a slave of any math book.

--------------------------
Habit 3: Know Your Tools
Math teacher's tools are quite numerous nowadays.
First of all of course comes a black or white board, or paper - something to write on, pencil, compass, protractor, ruler, eraser. And the book you're using. Then we also have computer software, animations and activities online, animated lessons and such. There are workbooks, fun books, worktexts, online texts. Then all the manipulatives, abacus, measuring cups, scales, algebra tiles, and so on. And then there are games, games, games.
The choices are so numerous it's daunting. What's a teacher to do?
Well, you just have to get started somewhere, probably with the basics, and then add to your "toolbox" little by little as you have opportunity.
There is no need to try 'hog' it all at once. It's important to learn how to use any tool you might acquire. Quantity won't equal quality. Knowing a few "math tools" inside out is more beneficial than a mindless dashing to find the newest activity to spice up your math lessons.
Basic tools
The board and/or paper to write on. Essential. Easy to use.
The book or curriculum. Choosing a math curriculum is often difficult for homeschoolers. Check my curriculum pages for some help. Two things to keep in mind:
i) Now matter what book you're using, YOU as the teacher have the control. Don't be a slave to the curriculum. You can skip pages, rearrange the order in which to teach the material, supplement it, and so on.
ii) Don't despair if the book you're using doesn't seem to be the perfect choice for your student. You can quite likely sell it on homeschool swap boards, and buy some other one.
Manipulatives. I once saw a question asked by a homeschooling parent, on the lines, "What manipulatives must I use and when?" The person was under the impression that manipulatives are a 'must' thing.
Manipulatives are definitely emphasized in these days. They are usually very good, but they're not the end goal of math education, and there is no need to go hog wild over them.
Manipulatives are something the student manipulates with his hands to get a better grasp of something. But the goal is to learn to do math without them.
Some very helpful manipulatives are
abacus
something to illustrate hundreds/tens/ones place value. I made my daughter ten-bags by putting marbles into little plastic bags.
some sort of fraction manipulatives. You can just make pie models out of cardboard, even.
Often, drawing pictures can take place of manipulatives, especially in the middle grades and on.
Check out also some virtual manipulatives.
Geometry and measuring tools. These are pretty essential, I'd say. For geometry however, dynamic software can these days replace compass and ruler and easily be far better.
The extras
These are, obviously, too many to even start listing.
Some game or games are good for drilling basic facts. Games are nice for about any topic. Here's one that I played with playing cards with my dd; and now she seems to have learned the sums that add to 10. And here's a game that's worth 1000 worksheets. Of course the internet is full of online math games.
I would definitely use some math software if teaching graphing, algebra, or calculus. Check MathProf for example, or Math Mechanixs. I've listed a few more here.
If you're ready to add something new to your toolbox from the online world, try The Math Forum's MathTools - a library of technology tools, lessons, activities, and support materials. Check also my pages listing interactive math activities online (there's a menu on the right).

--------------------------------
Habit 4: Living and Loving Math
You are the teacher. You show the way - also with your attitudes, your way of life.
Do you use math often in your daily life? Is using mathematical reasoning, numbers, measurements, etc. a natural thing to you every day?
And then: do you like math? Love it? Are you happy to teach it? Enthusiastic?
Both of these tend to show up in how you teach, but especially so in a homeschooling enviroment, because at home you're teaching your kids a way of life, and if math is a natural part of it or not.
Math is not a drudgery, nor something just confined to math lessons.
Some ideas:
Let it make sense. This alone can usually make math quite a difference and kids will stay interested.
Read through some fun math books, such as Theoni Pappas books, or puzzle-type books. Get to know some interesting math topics besides just schoolbook arithmetic. And, there are even story books to teach math concepts - see a list here.
Try including a bit about math history. This might work best in a homeschooling environment where there is no horrible rush to get through the thick book before the year is over. Julie at LivingMath.net has suggestions for math history books to buy.
When you use math in your daily life, explain how you're doing it, and include the children if possible. Figure it out together.
Miscellaneous Math Teaching tips
The child needs to know the basic addition and multiplication facts very well, or she will have difficulties with fractions, decimals, etc. These basic facts need to be known by heart.
One of the best ways to start children with math is to have them skip-count up and down from a very young age. Use a number line to show what the 'skips' or steps mean. if your child can master the skip counting by twos, threes, fours, etc., she has learned a lot about addition and later on multiplication tables will be an easy fare! See also this article How to drill multiplication tables.
Use manipulatives and pictures in your teaching. Almost all mathematical concepts can be illustrated with pictures, which can even take a place of concrete manipulatives. For example, if you can condition your child to draw lots of pie pictures when studying fractions, he/she can learn to visualize fractions as 'pies'. Then he/she won't make the addition mistake 1/2 + 1/4 = 2/6. Also certain kind of software can take place of the manipulatives.
In geometry have your child or children DRAW a lot. See examples in the Geometry ebook from HomeschoolMath.net.
When studying time, money, measuring, homeschoolers have an advantage since they can study those subjects in their natural settings. Involve your child when you measure, count money, check the time.
In middle school years, it's important to get familiar with functions, relations, and patterns - these develop algebraic thinking. Check this article about algebraic reasoning from MathCounts.org.
If you need to know the whys and wherefores of some particular math topic deeper than the textbook tells you, check Dr. Math's archives. The answers provided there are mathematically "sound doctrine", whereas math textbooks can contain all kinds of errors.



By:Maria Miller

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