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:

 

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.

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

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.

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And his book What if? Can be found here.

Here are some of the questions Randall attacks:

When, if ever, will Facebook contain more profiles of dead people than of living ones?

Ans: It could be as early as 2065.

Could you get drunk from drinking a drunk person’s blood?

Ans: Not to be recommended.

At what speed would you have to drive for rain to shatter your windshield?

Ans: Mach 1 or really, really, fast.

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Mathspig loves this crazy maths. Here are some of the hypothetical questions from mathspig:

Can you kill your teacher with chocolate! 

Can you outrun a zombie?

In the REAPING in The Hunger Games Maths what is the chance that a brother and sister are both selected as tributes?

In The TWILIGHT series Edward is an ethical vampire (He only consumes animal blood), but how many Shih tzus would he need a day to stay alive?

Mass Murderer or Maths Teacher?

Don’t forget the Baa Graph Ha! Ha!

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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 

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

Hello Little Creatures,…………………………………………

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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

42 Maths Things to Do before you are 12…………..

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

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Mathspig

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:

 

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.

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

Outdoor Maths Adventures: Middle School

 

 

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.