Online Maths Activities. Posted by Mrs Kathleen Morris on Friday, August 31st 2012 We had a numeracy curriculum day at my school today and I was asked to present a workshop on online maths sites. The audience was diverse with teachers from all grade levels as well as CRTs (casual replacement teachers) and student teachers. I began by giving a few tips for using online maths sites. 1. Think of the learning intention first. 2. 3. 4. 5. I shared one or two examples of maths resources that could be used for all four areas of our maths lesson structure. 1. A + Click: This site has quick activities for all age groups to develop logical reasoning and creative thinking. 2. Virtual Manipulatives: A simple alternative to using the maths tools on the IWB software which I know many teachers find frustrating. 3.
Sqworl: A great visual way to put together a collection of maths activities for students to use on their computers. 4. Participants were given time to play and find resources that would be useful in their classroom. Real World Math - ideas for using Google Earth in math class. Real World Math is a site with lessons and ideas for using Google Earth in the math classroom. There are lesson ideas, examples, and downloads for math that are based on active learning and project based learning, including analysis and creativity. The Lessons page has lessons grouped into five categories: Concept Lessons, Project-Based Learning, Exploratory, Measurement and Space. There is a Community page for teachers to collaborate and share lesson ideas. There is also a Resource page with links to other sites, blogs, or materials that users of Real World Math should find helpful. This is a fun and interesting way to teach, and learn, math.
Related: Yummy Math - making math relevant to the world. Rich Tasks. MathsNet and NRich Maths 3D shape resource heaven. MathsNet have a wonderful collection of 3D shape resources at this webpage. There are a variety of interactive applets that cover 3D shape topics including nets and 2D views of 3D shapes. My particular favourite is ‘Building Houses 2′ where pupils have to build the 3D shape by using the 2D views given. They score maximum points by using the minimum number of blocks possible. By clicking and dragging on the 3D view pupils can spin their construction around in real time to help them with the task.
Building Houses 2 Interactive Applet NRich Maths have a superb and challenging activity based on 2D views of 3D shapes called The Perforated Cube. UPDATE: MathsNet seems to be history, but the same links are available from this site: IXL. Great Maths Teaching Ideas | Sharing great ideas and resources with maths teachers around the world. How Do We Know When Students Are Engaged? (Updated 11/2013) Educational author and former teacher, Dr. Michael Schmoker shares in his book, Results Now, a study that found of 1,500 classrooms visited, 85 percent of them had engaged less than 50 percent of the students. In other words, only 15 percent of the classrooms had more than half of the class at least paying attention to the lesson.
So, how do they know if a student is engaged? What do "engaged" students look like? In my many observations, here's some evidence to look for: Teacher-Directed Learning You will see students... Paying attention (alert, tracking with their eyes) Taking notes (particularly Cornell) Listening (as opposed to chatting, or sleeping) Asking questions (content related, or in a game, like 21 questions or I-Spy) Responding to questions (whole group, small group, four corners, Socratic Seminar) Following requests (participating, Total Physical Response (TPR), storytelling, Simon Says) Reacting (laughing, crying, shouting, etc.) Student-Directed Learning. Curriculum 21 Resources - Secondary Mathematics Tool Kit.
Search, Collect, and Share | SMILE. Real World Math - ideas for using Google Earth in math class.