Term 1 Round Up

By -
For those of you that are not on Facebook here is a brief round up of what members shared over term 1


 What is 1/2 a coconut an apple and 3 bananas worth?

The year began with a lot of activity around this puzzle that also featured in the NZ Herald  http://m.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11591370

These are great conversation starters for classrooms and encourage mathematical discussions between students.


Maths in the News
‘Not a Math Person’: How to Remove Obstacles to Learning Math. Jo Boaler from Stanford University  http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/11/30/not-a-math-person-how-to-remove-obstacles-to-learning-math/

How often do you hear people telling you they can't do maths? This article from Washington post is for them  "Stop telling kids you’re bad at math. You are spreading math anxiety ‘like a virus.’"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/04/25/stop-telling-kids-youre-bad-at-math-you-are-spreading-math-anxiety-like-a-virus/ 


Growth Mindset
Carol Dwek led a keynote discussion, on how growth mindset practices can work in the classroom, and throughout school systems, at the 2016 Leaders To Learn event here https://storify.com/edweekevents/carol-dweck

Dan Myer's Blog: I am a bit of a fan of Dan Myer. These two ideas featured in posts this term 
1. A rewrite of his post introducing parabolas through Will it hit the hoop?  & illustrating using the online activity builder on DESMOS
What is your best guess?
Will the ball go through the hoop?
Teaming that up with Michael Jordan's Hang time from TED-Ed will generate interest.

2. Also an interesting problem for our students using floating docks (marine ramps) as a context for investigation involving right angle triangles http://blog.mrmeyer.com/2016/makeover-marine-ramp/


Finding real data is always a  challenge - here are 5 places you could go
  1. Tour Aotearoa : Cape Reinga to Bluff on a bike. Participants were live tracked throughout the event so data could be collected daily. The final data  is still available here
  2. Stats Chat: data on the NZ flag referendum  http://www.statschat.org.nz/2016/03/24/the-fleg/
  3. Film data: http://polygraph.cool/films/index.html  
  4. Insights from the NZ Herald has topical data and displays http://insights.nzherald.co.nz/article/who-is-the-best-one-day-cricketer
  5. Figure.nz  is a useful source of local data - eg this time series graph showing monthly trips on public transport in Auckland

https://figure.nz/chart/akdRWSIS7FK7hmfo 

to finish up -  the amazing properties of couscous


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Seven Sites to build rich mathematical discussions

By -
We are often looking for ideas to have students work purposefully for short or longer bursts. This post has a collection of  seven sites that you and your students could work on independently, in pairs, small groups or as whole class  Would you rather ?  Would you rather began as a way for John Stevens to start his classes. It has evolved into a large collection of graded problems that ask students to choose an option and justify their choice using maths.  Visual Patterns.org A collection of over 400 patterns to begin rich discussions which can lead to a generalisation for the pattern. Collated by Fawn Nguyen , On the sidebar of her blog you will find links to others sites. Open Middle A huge collection of  problems sorted by topic and grade level. Open middle problems start and finish at the same point but offer multiple pathways through. Put together by    Nanette Johns on and Robert Kaplinsky Estimation 180 This site is curated by Andrew Stadel, a teacher and Mathematics Coach in C
Read more

Three quarters of 2016 ...

By -
Image
... Gone. It seems hard to believe that three quarters of 2016 is behind us. As I look back over the year there are so many things I planned to do and didn't quite get to. http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1003733/images/n-STRESS-TIPS-628x314.jpg Planning for the last quarter includes completing some new learning. Here I have highlighted some of the more popular online courses that are relevant to us as maths & stats teachers in NZ. For Students As senior students head into exams its worth having them think about how they learn best. The most popular MOOC on Coursera is  Learning How to learn.   The course started this week  (September 12) registrations are still open.   https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn 5 options for teachers  1. FutureLearn: Data to Insight https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/data-to-insight This course is presented by Chris Wild from The University of Auckland. It is full of really powerful ideas for teachers both in t
Read more

teachers learning from teachers

By -
Image
Today  Ormiston Senior College opened their doors to mathematics teachers to share how they are personalising learning utilising technology. Teachers came from Albany in the north to Onewhero is the south. I was definitely the kid with a new toy as I learned to drive a sphero. With a bit of trial and error however the sphero was off. I think the best day of school just got better. Many thanks to Ormiston Senior College, Subash and his department for hosting us - A great morning - lots of learning - and lots of ideas shared. Next stop Auckland Maths Association   AGM & Quiz Night Get a team (of 4) together  or join a team on the night Wednesday February 28th  Mt Eden Bowling Club, Epsom Ave, Epsom. Happy Hour 6-7pm AGM followed by quiz night, 
Read more