Maths and the I.W.B.

Teaching With Smartboard.

This is a great site. The two guys produce a regular blog about using the IWB for teaching maths. It includes lesson plans, podcast (also available from You Tube) and templates. While it is aimed at secondary maths the sessions could easily be adapted for any year level and even other subjects – so many great ideas.

Check them out here.

Where Did Maths Begin?

Have you ever wondered? Kids find this fascinating and there are lots of sites on YouTube or Teachertube on the topic. This one is cute and suitable for students from Level 3 onwards. Check it out;

Once students have watched it you might like them to reflect with
………………” I used to think…But now I think…”

Rock, Paper, Scissors.

We have all probably played this popular old game. But there are alternatives. Perhaps this one “Paper, Lizard, Spock” from TV’s ‘Big Bang Theory” is a little complex it still might be worth a try. .

Brain research emphasises the importance of movement and activity to keep kids focused and working effectively. So here is an adaption of the old favourite that you might like to try.The rules are simple. Kids play “Paper, Rock Scissors”, except that instead of the traditional hand symbols kids show either 1,2,3 or 4 fingers. The winner if the first student to add up the number of fingers. Play best of 5 rounds. For older or more able students try multiplying or subtracting the 2 numbers – you could even designate one of the students to be a negative number. Great for revision of number facts, to improve speed or just to keep minds firing.

NRich Your Maths Program

Are you looking for challenges to enrich your maths program?

“nrich ” has a huge variety of challenges for maths students at all year levels around a focus that changes monthly. This month, for example, they focus on an exploration of the links between mathematics, science and technology.

Check out the link here.

NIM

Nim is a great logic and number game that you could try with more capable maths students. It is an ancient game that originated in China where it was called Tsyanshidz which actually means “picking stones game” . Played by 2 people, the idea is the place 16 stones in four rows. The players take it in turns to pick up any number of stones from a row. The player who picks up the last stone loses.
Simple? It might look simple but if you look further you might find that this game is more complicated than it seems, so it’s great for students of all abilities.

For a more modern approach, how about suggesting your students try a game of traditional NIM on line

Or for extra excitement, they might like to try playing some more modern versions of NIM.

       NIMSKULLS.

      PEARLS.

HINT

If you want students to know how to win at NIM, research “NIM, Binary Numbers and Professor Charles Bouton of Harvard University”….they (or you) could be unbeatable

Numbers in Nature – FIBONACCI

 

This is an amazing video that would be great to use to introduce Fibonacci numbers to older students. Maybe you could watch the video ( or a more simple one for younger students) then do a “KWL: Know – Want to Know – Learned” activity to process their learning.

K.W.L. ( Know – Want to know – Learned)

1.What do you already know about this?

2.What more would you want to learn?

3.What is something new you learned by looking closely?

The Khan Academy

 

The Khan Academy is fantastic resource of tutorials about all elements of maths that are freely available to kids to use to learn or revise maths from the very simple to very complex. Even recommended by Bill Gates! Freely available on Youtube – I reckon it’s worth a look.

This is what the Melbourne “Age” said recently about The Khan Academy

Salman Khan from California agreed to tutor his younger cousin, Nadia, in maths remotely using tablet technology.

“I thought these video lessons would be a good supplement. Nadia started improving significantly and more family wanted to see them, so I put them on YouTube. Others started to randomly access them and it just went from there.” says Khan.

 ……….. Five years, 2000 video lessons, and 41 million views on YouTube later, Khan is on target for his mission of “providing a world-class education to anyone, anywhere” – with one faculty member