It doesn’t matter what’s written in the curriculum, the biggest problem in maths for students is
BOREDOM.
Here, to tackle boredom are:
41 Maths things to do before you’re 12
“A growing body of research shows us that outdoor play leads to better physical and mental health, has positive effects on cognitive function and learning, and reduces the incidence of behavioural problems.” Maria Zotti, Nature Play, SA.
Peter Dunstan, Principal Kilkenny PS, SA, writes in SAPPA magazine, Primary Focus, that outdoor play fosters “wonderment, independence and freedom” as well as “social skills, imagination, creativity and problem solving”.
Inspired by SAPPA and NaturePlay, Mathspig has produced her own outdoorsy maths list:
“A growing body of research shows us that outdoor play leads to better physical and mental health, has positive effects on cognitive function and learning, and reduces the incidence of behavioural problems.” Maria Zotti, Nature Play, SA.
Peter Dunstan, Principal Kilkenny PS, SA, writes in SAPPA magazine, Primary Focus, that outdoor play fosters “wonderment, independence and freedom” as well as “social skills, imagination, creativity and problem solving”.
Inspired by SAPPA and NaturePlay, Mathspig has produced her own outdoorsy maths list:
The absolute delight of Spurious Correlationsis its craziness. Tyler Vigen is studying law at Harvard Law School, but he puts together the most ridiculous data you can imagine to show the correlation between eg. Per capita cheese consumption AND the number of people who died by getting tangled in their bed sheets, people who drowned after falling out of a fishing boat AND the marriage ration Kentucky. Of course, what Tyler is demonstrating is the basic maths principle, mathspiggies, that correlation is not causation. Here is one of his fabulous graphs:
Here is one graph from Spurious Correlati0ns (above) and the cover of Tyler’s New Book (below).
Math with Bad Drawings is run by Ben Orlin. He describes himself as ‘a math maths teacher in Birmingham, England. Before that, I taught in Oakland, California. I’ve taught (or am currently teaching!) every level of mathematics from ages 12 to 18.’
Not only is Ben’s humorous and fascinating take on maths interesting, his philosophy of life is worth a read too. e.g. We are all simultaneously experts and beginners, flaunting our talents while trying to cover our shortcomings the way an animal hides a wound.’
Here are two delightful examples of his maths with bad drawings:
Randall offers this warning to his KXCD blog: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors). Of course, this makes his blog even more interesting. Maths, profanity and silly humour. Bring it on.
How What if? blog asks and answers interesting questions:
What would happen if I dug straight down, at a speed of 1 foot per second? What would kill me first?
Could a bird deliver a standard 20″ New York-style cheese pizza in a box? And if so, what kind of bird would it take?
The joy of Yan’s One Minute Math blog is his eclectic collection of topics from . Kow-Cheong Yan is a Singapore-based teacher, math consultant, math blogger and maths book author (Grade 1- 6).
The Lighter Side of Innumeracy gives an insight into maths incompetence and superstition in Singapore. It shows that charlatans can still prey on the innumerate. And Yan’s critique of Drill-and-Kill texts promoted in Singapore is refreshing in an age where politicians are forever calling for Back-to-basics teaching methods for maths.
But my favourite post on Yan’s blog is;
Mathematical Fiction is not optional. The number of novels using maths as a theme is inspiring especially with Yan adding a comment like this:
If you’re looking for math, women, sex, and back-stabbing, The Wild Numbers (Philibert Schogt) is a math melodrama unlikely to disappoint.
Mathjokes4mathyfolks is run by my good math(s) friend Patrick Vennebush, who lives in Virginia with his wife, twin boys and his Golden Retriever Remy. He loves math(s), laughing and telling jokes. He also runs online projects for National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Patrick believes math(s) should be fun and his blog includes jokes, problems and real-life challenges. His collection of jokes is published in a book and cover the gamete from cool to Dad-style jokes. Here’s an example:
Angle of Opportunity looks at the angle a boy should pee in the toilet bowl without splatter fallout!!!!
Here is Math Fail on Facebook. And here is the Math Fail blog run by Self proclaimed Math Geek Mike, who explains that in addition to math fails, you will find a huge collection of geeky math jokes, interesting math facts, dumb math news, puzzles, speed math advice, math related comics, funny math pictures and more!! (It is not a Cheeseburger Fail blog.)
It is just a fun blog to explore. Here are some examples.
Who can be offended? They’re just numbers!!!!
Debbie O’Sullivan’s pinterest stream Math Puns/Jokes is worth a visit or two.
The Math Cartoons & Humor is pinterest run by Jiji the penguin. Actually, the penguin didn’t do it. Jiji the penguin is the mascot of STMath, a commercial education system that teaches math visually, and with minimum language, in the USA. Here are some examples of the humor:
Mashup Math is mind blowing from its math philosophy to its eclectic approach. Anthony Persico runs MashUp Math. He has taught in NY, VA, and CO and runs a YouTube channel. He believes in inclusive math education,that all students learn math differently and that the one-size-fits-all approach is ineffective. The worksheets, teacher resources supplied via mathmashup are FREE!
This is a screen shot of his roller coaster youtube clip on gradient or slope!!!
Here is his Mathsmashup You Tube channel (above), which is designed to help visual learners.
Here are some amazing sports stats (above) from the LA Times. Basketball Legend Kobe Bryant’s 30,699th and final field goal came from 19 feet with 31 seconds left against the Utah Jazz. This picture below shows every one of the 30,699 goals he scored. AMAAAAAAZING!
Math Antics Youtube Channel is run by, Rob and Jeremy, who are both funny and clear in their maths clips, which are directed mainly at Middle school. The youtube lessons are free, but Rob and Jeremy do charge teachers US$20 for a year of worksheets.
9. I Hate Answering Questions in Front of the Class
The Cause:
Students worry about getting the answer wrong in front of the class because they believe that maths answers are always either RIGHT or WRONG.
The Solution:
The maths we need in the REAL world often involves open ended questions. Think of finding directions on Google Maps. What is the best way to get from A to B? One route might be shorter but include tollways another might involve longer distances but less traffic.
Text book problems are often repetitive with RIGHT answers at the back of the book. But in the real world maths problems nearly always involve THINKING. eg. A building design might require specific engineering maths. Now add costing! That’s an open question. There are many options. Maybe the costing will then change the engineering. Build 20 stories instead of 25.
Thinking Outside the box in Education: Info and Toolbox: here
Prof Peter Liljedahl, Faculty of Edu, Simon Fraser Uni, Canada, advocatesopen ended questions in the maths classroom.
Here are some of his examples for Year 7 -9 (Download pdf file at the link):
You are in a bike race and have to use a street bike and trail bike, but one bike must be left somewhere on the route.You travel at different speeds depending on which bike you use. What route do you take? (A basic map is included.)
Something inspiring:
Maths is often about playing around with answers. This is how play led a class of 12 year olds to produce a peer reviewed research paper published in a science journal.
Community Maths can involve the school community or the wider, local community. The aim is to get maths out of the classroom and make it a hands-on experience.
Set up displays, posters, demonstrations or art/maths projects in your school library, gym or school yard or take some interesting maths to the local library, strip mall, town hall, local gardens or shopping mall. It will mean planning the project, collecting the materials and making a phone call to the local, say, librarian, but libraries, for instance, welcome community involvement.
Here are just some community maths project ideas.
MATHS POSTERS
Major maths conferences around the world have poster displays. So why not a display of students maths posters in your school library or local library or even a nearby shopping mall. And students should be present at allocated times to explain their poster to other students, parents or members of the public.
Roosevelt Middle School students Jacob Klausner and Oliver Adelson WEST ORANGE, NJ, who were finalists heading to theNational MathCon Competition.
Some of the best middle school maths posters can be found atMathsCareers, UK. Here are some posters from the 2016 competitions.
Winner 9 – 11 years Maths Poster Competition
Fatimah Patel Preston Girls High School
Runner Up 9 – 11 years Maths Poster Competition
Maja Kowalska McAuley Catholic High School
Winner 12-13 years Maths and Music Poster Competition
Laeticia Junanto Bancrofts School
MATHS DEMONSTRATIONS
Maths students can construct displays that involve interesting maths. The most amazing maths dispalys Mathspig has seen were at the 13e Salon Culture & Jeux Mathematique in Paris. Here is LAGA Phd student Attouchi @ the 13e Salon Culture & Jeux Mathematique in Paris.
She was showing students how to use a graph to create anamorphic projections. More detailed instructionshere!!!
Palestinian Maths teacher Daina Taimina has many zany ideas. You’ll more Creative Maths ideashere.
Mentalist Maths … OK. This may include some Card Tricks … but they’re amazing. You’ll find 10 amazing Mentalist Math Trickshere.
Or let students explore some of the inspiring maths websites and pick a project. You will love the amazing German website IMAGINARY. It’s in English and has some fascinating videos!!!!!
Perhaps students could construct double pendulum like this one demonstrated at the MiMa-Museum, Oberwolfach, Germany. Mathspig can’t stop watching it. Fascinating!!!!!!! The double pendulum has some demanding trigonometry, but at the middle school level the 2D graph traced by the lower pendulum is fascinating enough (Below). And maths can provide equations for this movement. That’s impressive.
I started my maths workshop in Hamburg by stirring up some friendly rivalry. And what better way to do this than by using statistics.
Which is the biggest country?
Australia is 21.5 times the area of Germany. So I counted off 22 workshop participants and pointed to one saying ‘Your’re Germany! Ha!’ Here’s another way to compare areas:
Which country has the largest population?
Germany has 3.5 times the population of Australia.
But the really interesting questions are:
Who drinks more beer?
Who eats more meat?
Here are the answers to these and other interesting questions from the introduction to my workshop with apologies to Brisbane and Perth:
Here are some amazing ways to make middle school maths AMAZING:
The Maths Mystery Box is a great treasure chest to take into maths classes. It can be used an an extension exercise or to engage some disengaged students.
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The IDEA is to use concrete objects and write a maths problem to go with the object. (See examples below) The appeal of the MATHS MYSTERY BOX is that it involves CONCRETE THINKING, sort of. All text books involve ABSTRACT thinking, which some students do not like.
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A student picks a maths problem from the box. A problem can be simple or complex. But it is not just a maths problem. The student gets to hold an object in their hand. They have to devise their own method of approach. And they must be resourceful. ie. use equipment at hand eg. their phone as a stop watch. Students like this activity. Even maths teachers like this activity as Mathspig found out at her workshop in Hamburg.
Mathspig Blog 