Posts Tagged ‘Outdoor’
September 9, 2019
As 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.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged autumn, back to school, circumference, Co-orinate geometry, Fun, linear graph, Math, Middle school, Outdoor, ratio, similar triangles, spring, tree height, trigonometry, World Cup | Leave a Comment »
March 25, 2019
“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:
References:
7. Robin Hood Give us your best shot.
9. You can measure the volume of your lungs by blowing one breath into a balloon and pushing it into a full bucket of water. Measure the overflow.
15: Outdoor Maths: Times Tables
21. Light intensity links. Here and here.
25. Sound Volume Measurement
36. Killer heels that really kill.
Posted in 41 maths things to do before you're 12, Junior School, Maths Piglets, Uncategorized | Tagged 12, 41, activities, amazing, challenge, exciting, Fun, funny, great, inspiring, junior school, Math %, Middle school, Outdoor, Problems | Leave a Comment »
September 30, 2014
Hello Babies,
Randall Munroe is a pro web cartoonist, maths nut and maths guru who answers crazy hypothetical questions using maths. His website is xkcd.
His TED lecture is here.
……………………………………………………………………..
And his book What if? Can be found here.
Here are some of the questions Randall attacks:
Ans: It could be as early as 2065.
Ans: Not to be recommended.
Ans: Mach 1 or really, really, fast.
……………………………………………………………………………………………..
Mathspig loves this crazy maths. Here are some of the hypothetical questions from mathspig:
……………………………………………………………………..
And now Mathspig has been cruising in her Hogmobile working out how far a car can travel on human fat. You will find interesting calculations here, here and here.
Ooooooh! I’ve got the munchies. I better go and make some more DIY bio-fuel.
Cheerio
Mathspig
Posted in mathspig, Middle School, Rates, Silly Maths Jokes, statspig | Tagged crazy, drink blood, facebook, How much chocolate can kill, Hunger Game maths, mass murderer, Math %, Math Joke, Outdoor, Randall Munroe, teacher, Twilight Maths, Zombie Maths | 2 Comments »
September 3, 2014
Hello Little Creatures,…………………………………………
,…………………………………………………………………………….
Here’s the BIG QUESTION:…………………………………
Is our maths teaching too safe?
Does this risk-averse teaching not only make maths boring, but encourage MATHS PHOBIA in children?
Pam Kent, President SAPPA
Pam Kent, President of the South Australian Primary Principals Association (SAPPA) writes that ‘risk-averseness looms large’ in teaching today, yet ‘current research strongly supports the notion of risk taking for effective learning’.
This research includes work by Ellen Sandseter, Professor of Early Childhood Education, Queen Maud Uni College, Norway.
Sandseter claims that children are born to take risks and this is how they learn to deal with such things as fear of heights. (See: Can playgrounds be to safe? John, Tierney, New York Times, 18 JUL 2011) If children do not tackle a fear of heights, say, they can develop a phobia.
To tackle Maths Phobia Mathspig has written a list of
to get them:…………,…………………………………………
*outdoors…………..,…………………………………………
*thinking mathematically in the real world,
and *expose them to higher level maths………………..
Take No 21. Kids get this. As you get further and further away from the candle the sphere gets bigger so the brightness decreases. They don’t have to do the maths. But tell them ‘This is university maths, but very interesting’.
As for No 37: How do you break your teeth playing pool? Well, if you leave your hand on the pool table or lean on the cushion the ball can cannon off the opposite cushion and run back up your arm and smash your teeth. (Ref. Mathspig’s brother)
Cheerio
……………………………………………………
Mathspig
Posted in Junior School, Maths NEWS, mathspig | Tagged Adventure, Classroom Ideas for Maths Teachers, fear, Fun, I hate math, inspire, junior school, Math phobia, motivate, Outdoor, Pam Kent, risk adverse, SAPPA, teaching | Leave a Comment »
September 1, 2014
“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:
References:
7. Robin Hood Give us your best shot.
9. You can measure the volume of your lungs by blowing one breath into a balloon and pushing it into a full bucket of water. Measure the overflow.
15: Outdoor Maths: Times Tables
21. Light intensity links. Here and here.
25. Sound Volume Measurement
36. Killer heels that really kill.
Posted in 41 maths things to do before you're 12, Junior School, Middle School, Year 7 mathspig | Tagged 12, 41, activities, amazing, challenge, exciting, Fun, funny, great, inspiring, junior school, Math, Middle school, Outdoor, Problems | 3 Comments »
June 30, 2014
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:
Other outdoor maths adventures on this blog:
Why not invent a new unit of length, make a string in, say, Smoots, and go outside and measure parts of the school.
……………………………………………………………..
Hoo Roo
…………………………………………………….
Mathspig
Posted in mathspig, Middle School, Rates, statspig | Tagged Adventure, HIgh Heel Angles, How to make big bucks gambling, Joke Graph, junior school, Lucky Numbers, Math %, Math Joke, Middle school, Outdoor, Richard Louv, The Last child in the woods, Twilight Maths, World Cup Soccer, Zombie Maths | Leave a Comment »
June 30, 2014
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.
Posted in 6 Outdoor Maths Adventures: Middle School, co - ordinates, decimals, direct proportion, geometry, graphs, Linear Equation, Middle School, Parabolas, trigonometry, Year 9 Mathspig | Tagged Adventure, Co-orinate geometry, linear graph, Math %, Middle school, Outdoor, protractor, ratio, similar triangles, Soccer, tree height, trigonometry, World Cup | Leave a Comment »
