They take their maths seriously in Germany. They have monuments to mathematicians. They name streets after mathematicians. They take maths into shopping malls.
They think maths is so important they even put maths on stairs. Here is some times tables art from Germany.
Requirements: A Pack of Cards and a willing assistant.
Take 10 cards from pack including the 10 Diamonds.
Lay out card in 3 columns in a pattern of 4 down, 2 down, 4 down.
Put the 10 Diamonds at the top of the left hand column.
Group students around. You turn your head away and ask a student to point to a card.
You carry on, think allowed and then ask your assistant to point to cards asking:
Is it this one?
No.
Is it this one?
No.…………………………………………………………………………………
When your assistant points to the 10 Diamonds he will show you the position using the diamonds. The cards are laid out on the table in the pattern of the diamonds on the 10 Diamonds.
Whenever your assistant asks is it this one? You will know.
Write the word carrot inside your math text book. Do not show students.
When Mathspig was a mathspiglet we used to play this trick. It doesn’t work on everyone, but it works often enough.
Ask a student to say 15 times 15 fifteen times.
Then ask them to name a vegetable. Students say carrot 90% (I’m guessing) of the time.
To make this trick more dramatic send 10 students out of the class before you begin and tell the other half what you are about to do. Students return one at a time. How often do they say ‘carrot’? What % of students say carrot?
