MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig …………………………………………………. with Kerry Cue

Hellooooooooo Sweeties,

Mathspig is always bemused that politicians (all shades), who struggle with maths of the economy, taxes and even their own expense accounts, suddenly become experts on how to teach maths.

Back to Basics is the current catch cry of politicians around the world … to win votes, of course. But what does it mean?:

Back to the 1950s?

With class sizes of 50, student reports stating ‘Margret was 33^rd in the grade’ and the ‘strap’ waiting at the ready in the teacher’s desk draw.

Back to the 1960s?

When maths wasn’t taught to girls. (In Year 8 Mathspig went to a convent. The nuns only taught arithmetic.)

Back to the 1970s?

When the school curriculum was seen by some to be class-based patriarchal propaganda. Some schools stopped scoring football games to prevent the elitist paradigm spreading.

Today?

For some Back to Basics means Direct Instruction: a rigid, repetitious form of maths instruction when maths can be so much more. See Beware Maths Fundamentalists

Mathspigs Mission:

To make maths interesting, relevant and fun.

Here are some examples:

RATES:………………………………………………………………….

The Curious Nature of Drummers’ Brains

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% and LINEAR GRAPH:………………………………………

Hunger Games: How long does it take to bleed to death?

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PARABOLIC EQN:………………………………………………….

Hunger Games:  How much an arrow drops in 100m?

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GEOMETRY:………………………………………………………..

The raising of the Concordia

 ………………………………………………………………………..

PYTHAGORUS:…………………………………………………….

How Radar Works and the Search for a Ghost Ship

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Cheerio

Mathspig

 

MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig …………………………………………………. with Kerry Cue

Hellooooooooo My Little Wallaroos,

Mathspig has been reading The Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv.  He describes school today as a form of ‘passive incarceration’. Too many children live their life indoors exposed to the ‘one-way experience of television and other electronic media’. Many rarely, or never, experience nature or just digging for worms in the garden. And sometimes nature is just around the corner. 

Mathspig lives 10 km from the CBD in Melbourne, Australia. Aussies often joke about riding kangaroos to school or warn of Drop Bears (Koalas that kill tourists dropping from trees). It’s our Aussie sense of humour. Those jokes almost seemed real when these kangaroos turned up by the Yarra river below Mathspig’s house recently. They’re wild roos. I saw them at 9am one Sunday looking at all the joggers, dog-walkers and cyclists on the nearby bike track. They didn’t seem worried. Awesome. Or, maybe, roo-some.

So outdoors we go, mathpiggeies, to embrace nature and have some grand maths adventures:

Outdoor Maths Adventures: Grade 3 – 5

Outdoor Maths Adventures: Middle School

And don’t forget some Geometry Jokes.

Other outdoor maths adventures on this blog:

The shop is 50 Smoots on your left

Why not invent a new unit of length, make a string in, say, Smoots, and go outside and measure parts of the school.

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Hoo Roo

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Mathspig

MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig …………………………………………………. with Kerry Cue

Hellooooooooo Chilly Chubblies,

Here is some simply fab maths for the Sochi Winter Olympics. You don’t have to jump off a ski ramp to work out what’s going on … just do the chilly maths. 

1. The Real REASON why figure skaters can spin so fast

2. One Rule Aerial Skiers Cannot Break

3. How maths rules ski jumping

4. Why the best figure skater doesn’t always win

5. Beaten by 0.001 seconds

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Bye-de-bye

…………………………………………………….

Mathspig

MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig …………………………………………………. with Kerry Cue

Helloooo My Lovelies,

Get ready to sing-a-long.

Here it is a Christmas Maths Song: 

12 Days of Kris-maths

On the 12th day of Kris-maths

my maths class gave to me:

12 Proofs a proving

11 Bar Graphs plotting

 

10 Factors finding

 

9 Surds a sorting

8 Midpoints Marking

7 Powers adding

6 Curves a graphing

5 Golden Rules

4 Perfect squares

3 Cube roots

2 Sine Curves

and gifts wrapped in a fractal tree

 

 

Happy Kris-maths

Bye-de-bye

Mathspig

MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig …………………………………………………. with Kerry Cue

Hellooooooooo Mathpiggies,

Some schools teach maths as if it was a dead language like Latin.

Maths is great. Maths is useful. Maths is vital. Maths is fun.

But maths needs good PR. Tell students just how amazing maths can be. Everyday.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 

We’re counting down the:

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10 Totally Awesome Reasons Why You Should Do Maths

With maths you can://////////////////////////////////////

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

1. Design a Monster Duck///////////////////////////////

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

2. Make a 3D Mini Me////////////////////////////////////

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

3. Find a Ghost Ship////////////////////////////////////

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

4. Build a Creepy Crabmobile////////////////////////

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

5. Make Lotsa D’Oh!

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

6. Clean Up Mega Messes////////////////////////////

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

7. Produce Amazing Architecture

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8. Create Awesome CGI for Harry Potter Films

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9. Rethink the Hotelicopter

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10. Design Cool Techno Stuff

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Cheerio

Mathspig

MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig …………………………………………………. with Kerry Cue

Hellooooooooo Sweat Peas,

If you counted @ the rate of 1 number per second …. That’s 7 Billion seconds 

or (rounding off) 117,000,000 mins

or 1,944,000 hrs

or 81,000 days

or 221 years !!!!

Oooooooo! But this is sloooooow counting. 

How fast can you count?

You’ll find an online stop watch here.

Time yourself counting to 60. This will give you your count rate (60/time = rate nos. per sec)

Now you can calculate how long it would take YOU to count to 7 Billion.

Who is the fastest counter in your maths class?

More population maths follows.

Bye-de-bye

Mathspig

MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig …………………………………………………. with Kerry Cue

 

 

Helloooooo Little Mutants,

……………………………………………

This week I’m soooooooo excited about

Wolverine the movie

I just had to do lots of X-men maths.

Read on Mutants.

………………………

Cheerio

……………………. 

Porkerine

aka Mathspig

 

MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig …………………………………………………. with Kerry Cue

Hello Sweet Peas,

This week we are busting Maths Myths. There are many Urban Myths involving maths.

Myths involving maths work because the number sounds sort of right.

eg. Drink 8 glasses of water a day.

Drink 64 fl oz or 1.89 litres of water a day  does NOT sound quite right, yet this is the same volume of water!!

Here is an Urban Myth involving maths from Mythbusters.

In 2009 (Episode 117) Grant, Tory, and Kari investigated the Myth that a giant 2m (7 ft) Lego ball rolling down a hill could smash a car.

They borrowed 1 million blocks and with all hands on deck built a 1,400 kg (3,000 pound) ball.

Did it smash the car?Nah! It fell to bits first.

Myth Busted.

But you can turn yourself into a Little Lego Character here.

There is a fabulous exercise for middle school maths with worksheets on how rumours spread @ 6 degrees of separation.

Now on with the Maths Myth Busting

Cheerio

Mathspig

MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig …………………………………………………. with Kerry Cue

Hellooooooo Sweeties,…………………………………………..

…………………………………………………..

This week two NOW YOU SEE IT. NOW YOU DON’T tricks.

One with cards and another with your money … that is, if you like the pokies.

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Cheerio

Mathspig

MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig MathsPig …………………………………………………. with Kerry Cue

Hello My Sweat Peas,

Mathspig has written for newspapers for 30 years. Aaaaah! The maths is frightening. One reason for starting this blog is to show mathpiggies everywhere why we need maths.

One area where we need maths concerns HEALTH STATISTICS. We make all sorts of decisions based on HEALTH STATISTICS.

It is not just the NUMBERS we must understand, but also the LOGIC.

Clear thinking. What do these numbers actually mean. Mathspig has even talked to HEALTH REASEARCHERS, who do not understand statistics. They use computer programs.

So this week Mathspig is applying LOGIC to Health Statistics. She’s looking at the Health Statistics that  Aren’t Good for Your Health.

One Health Statistic of interest involves genes and disease. Angelina Jolie had her healthy breasts removed because of the statistics involving breast cancer. But genes are NOT THE FULL STORY.

And Mathspig, who lervs pi, also loves chubby folk. The health statistics for fatties aren’t always as bad as some claim. See We’re All Gonna Die 2.

To learn a little about Health Statistics and LOGIC read on Sweet Pea.

Ciao

Mathspig