PDF file: 1. Crazy math maze work sheet 1 UK
PDF file: 2. Crazy math maze work sheet 2 UK
CRAZY MATHS MAZE WORKSHEET ANSWER
PDF file: 3. Crazy math maze work sheet ANS UK
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
FRANTIC FRIDAY: Crazy Maths Word Maze UK edition
February 24, 2020Why do so many students HATE MATH? … um, you know, BOREDOM
September 28, 2019According to ‘Bored Out of Their Minds’, an article by ZACHARY JASON in The Harvard Ed Magazine (2017):
Boredom accounts for nearly a third of the variation in student achievement.
Half of high school dropouts cite boredom as their primary motivator for leaving.
Boredom begins for Math students at Grade 6 when students (Common Core Standards, USA) tackle more abstract concepts such as linear eqns, exponents, probability, geometry and so on.
Math curriculums in the USA, UK & Australia all demand students solve REAL LIFE problems. Too often these are of the type:
Q. Ronaldo has tethered his goat on a 12ft rein in the corner of a 20ft square field. What area can the goat graze?
THE ANS: Who cares?
Simple.
Ask students maths questions which have answers they want to know.
Students really don’t care about Ronaldo’s goat, but here are some questions which involve intriguing answers they might want to work out. And many of these questions involve funny or age-relevant activities, which also helps engagement.
1. Mean, Median STATS: Mean, Median and Coffee: Busting an Urban Myth
2. Parabolas: Can you beat the 12-14 yo World Record for a Watermelon Pip spit?
3. Geometry: Build a Freestanding Tower
Rates (Speed) & Units:
4a. The Terrifying Math of Running from a bear
5. Decimals, %, Volume: What Volume of alcohol is lethal for teens?
6. Decimals, Algebra, Weight Units
How much blood can a kid lose and survive?
Graph Hunger Game Math
7. GEOMETRY. Angles
Any Topic:
8. Middle School Math Photo Scavenger Hunt
Space Math Song here
EVEN TEACHERS GET BORED!!!
The average time it takes an audience at a conference to switch off is 11 minutes. Keep in mind this audience is, at least, being paid to be bored witless.
Outdoor Math Adventures___________ Middle School
September 9, 2019As the weather improves – Spring in Melbourne, my city & Autumn in USA & UK – it is an ideal time to take math outdoors. Here are some fab exercises for Middle School Math.
Lego Man soccer fields will vary in size depending on the height of each player picked by each student. This does your head in. It is really challenging maths!
McGill Uni link here.
Don’t forget to throw in Mathspig’s lame protractor jokes.
You’ll find full calculations at the Maths is Fun blog.
You’ll find more fab outdoor junior and middle school maths activities at the terrific Maths and Movement blog.
Some students will discover their co-ordinate point is not on the grid. Students should then work out that they will need a different scale for the y-axis. You can get more inspiration at the Stand Again blog.
Dangerous Math: Would You Survive a Shark Attack
July 5, 2019Aussie Pro surfer, Mick Fanning, grabbed world attention when he was attacked by a shark in the Fanning J-Bay Open, South Africa on Sunday 19 July, 2015. Fanning was knocked off his board and forced to fight for his life. He survived. News.com
One shark expert suggested the shark was a young great white shark under 3.5 m or 12 ft.
Would you survive a shark attack?
Let’s do the maths.
How fast can a shark swim?
According to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History:The torpedo shape of the great white is built for speed: up to 35 miles per hour (50 kilometers per hour). And then there are the teeth — 300 total in up to seven rows.
How fast can you swim?
According to Junior Olympic Games Qualifying Times 2015
For 13-14 yo 100m or 328 ft freestyle:
t girl = 1.15 or 75sec
t boy =1.10. Or 70 sec
Let’s assume you are an average swimmer but highly motivated on seeing a shark:
t kid = 100 secs
So you can swim 100m (328 ft) in 100 sec. But will you survive??????
Surf Lesson Bluey’s Beach NSW 2009
We’re sooo tough in Australia! Shark, Smark! Whatever.
Picture from Daily Telegraph
Also according to the Smithsonian: Sharks can detect both the direction and amount of movement made by prey, even from as far as 820 feet (250 meters) away.
But there is hope as, according to the National Geographic Channel, Most shark attacks occur less than 100 feet or 30.5 m from the shore mainly around popular beaches in North America (especially Florida and Hawaii), Australia, and South Africa.
If average swimmer Dav is 100 ft (30 m) offshore and starts swimming when he sees the shark 820 ft (250 m) away, he would swim 63 ft (19.2 m) before the shark attacked. He is still 37 ft offshore. He might make it to shallow water. Or not!!!!
A Shark vs the World’s Fastest Swimmer
Again we will assume that the swimmer is 30m ( 100 ft) offshore when he sees the shark fin 250m (820 ft) away. But this time we will have the world’s fastest swimmer. This time we are talking Dav Holmes vs Shark!!!!!!!!!
If world champion swimmer Dav starts swimming when he saw the shark 820 ft (250 m) away, he would swim 163 ft (49.6 m) before the shark attacked. He would easily make it to shore before an attack. Dav would be swimming on sand.
Don’t play it again Sam! The iPod, iPad & iPhone Shuffle
June 7, 2019Here is an example of Gambler’s Fallacy, but for non-gamblers.
We see – in this case – hear a pattern and then attribute meaning to this pattern – It’s a conspiracy!!!! – when there is no pattern and no meaning!!!!! So Apple found when designing their iPod shuffle feature later on the iPad and iPhone.
“When Apple first introduced the shuffle feature on its iPods, the shuffle was truly random; each song was equally likely to be picked than any other. However, the randomness didn’t appear random, since some songs were occasionally repeated, and customers concluded that the feature contained some secret patterns and preferences. As a result, Apple was forced to revise the algorithm. ‘We made it less random to make it feel more random,’ said Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple’
p68 The Decisive Moment How the Brain Makes Up Its Mind Jonah Lehrer (Text Publishing 2009)
Try it. Pick 12 songs maybe off your playlist – Your MP3 player, perhaps or a Top 20 Chart or Top 20 Downloads Chart – assign each song a number: 1, 2, 3….up to 12. Take two dice (Diehards Note: It’s 1 die, 2 dice) and roll.
How many throws until you get 2 songs played in a row?
The Terrifying Math of Running from a Bear … USA Units
May 14, 2019USA UNITS below. METRIC UNITS here.
BEAR STATISTICS
Grizzly Bear
Weight: 550 lb
Height: 8’ 2”
Top Speed: 35 mph = 51 ft/s
Brown Bear
Weight: 1,500 lb
Height: 8’ 2”
Top Speed: 22 mph = 32 ft/s
Comparing these speeds to the fastest man on earth, Usain Bolt:
Usain Bolt:
Top speed: 27 mph = 40 ft/s
Bears are not dangerous:
………………………………………………………………………
In fact, more Americans die each year from choking on their own vomit than are killed by bears.
More death stats here.
Nevertheless, bears are very fast. So you can see why Park Rangers offer the following advice:
More information at Mountain Nature.
The reason for waiting until the bear is 15 ft away is to make sure the spray doesn’t disperse in the air. If the Pepper Spray is too spread out it will not stop the bear.
Ref: Dog helps save hikers after grizzly chases them for 20 minutes.
The Terrifying Maths of Running from a Bear … Metric Units
May 14, 2019METRIC UNITS below. USA UNITS here.
BEAR STATISTICS
Grizzly Bear
Weight: 250kg
Height: 250cm
Top Speed: 56kph = 16 m/sec
More bear stats here.
Brown Bear
Weight: 680kg
Height: 250cm
Top Speed: 35kph = 10m/s
More bear stats here.
Comparing these speeds to the fastest man on earth, Usain Bolt:
Usain Bolt:
Top speed: 243kph = 12m/s
So Usain Bolt could out run a Brown Bear but NOT a Grizzly!
Bears are NOT as dangerous as:
In fact more Americans die choking on their own vomit each year than a re killed by bears.
More death stats here.
But bears are very fast so Park Rangers recommend the following survival tactics:
More bear survival info here.
REF: Dog helps save hikers after grizzly chases them for 20 minutes here.
