5 Maths Gems #15

Welcome to my 15th weekly gems post - this is where I characteristic to a greater extent than or less of the best teaching ideas I've seen on Twitter each week.

1. Slice The Pie

Paul Rehmet (@prehmet) has built an interactive tool to help students construct numerical fluency. It's a uncomplicated fraction game - Slice The Pie - which helps students railroad train an intuitive sense of the relative sizes of numbers. It's non compatible alongside mobiles yet but would piece of work on your interactive whiteboard. I honey this. Have a play alongside it, I think you'll honey it too. And follow Paul on Twitter because there's to a greater extent than to come upwardly from him.

2. Remembering Inequalities

In my post virtually Ideas from Shanghai I shared this visualisation which helps students cry back which inequality sign is which.

All students demand to exercise is visualise numbers equally blocks - the wider halt of the inequality symbol fits over the bigger stack of blocks. So if x > 2, nosotros know x must last a divulge bigger than 2. 

Chris Smith (@aap03102) pointed out that this doesn't piece of work for negative numbers. 

I'm sure as shooting our friends inwards Shanghai possess got a solution for this but that data hasn't filtered through to us, therefore let's come upwardly up alongside our ain alternative that industrial plant for both positive together with negative numbers. We only demand a agency for students to cry back which symbol is which.

I'm actually grateful to all the lovely creative tweeters who offered ideas - my favourite was this calligram from Chris. 

So if x < - 8, nosotros encounter the < symbol together with think of the alphabetic character L, therefore nosotros know x is less than -8.

Eventually students volition automatically know the important of the symbols on sight, without having to visualise blocks or words.

These methods are far meliorate than thinking of crocodiles - this tin confuse students, equally described inwards Nix the Tricks (extract below).

3. Squares together with Cubes
I'm enjoying La Salle Education's (@LaSalleEd) novel 'Problem of the Day' series.  You tin search the collection past times historic menses or topic. The instance below (Square Boxes) is a prissy logic occupation consolidating noesis of foursquare numbers.

If you're teaching foursquare numbers, you lot powerfulness also similar this 'Square together with Cube Numbers Puzzle' from MathsPad...

... together with this lovely square together with cube numbers display from Clarissa Grandi (@c0mplexnumber).

4. Mathsticks
I lately discovered the brilliant Mathsticks website which is created past times John Duffty (@johnduffty). I registered together with explored - it's to a greater extent than oftentimes than non primary materials but to a greater extent than or less of the ideas powerfulness last helpful at Key Stage 3. Here's a pair of examples:

This Parallel & Perpendicular Slope. Once you've taught students virtually the gradients of parallel together with perpendicular lines, larn them inwards a calculator room (or larn the iPads out, if you lot possess got them) together with give them this worksheet, which I think volition last really slow for them to follow independently. They are given sure as shooting lines which they plot (in Desmos, though I suppose this could last done past times hand) together with therefore they add together the right parallel or perpendicular lines to brand the required shape. It's a actually prissy activity which volition assistance you lot cheque their agreement of this topic.

Extract from Desmos Graph Challenge

Here's my respond to the minute interrogation inwards the extract above.

To extend this task, you lot could possess got students trammel the domains of the functions, equally I've done below. If you lot exercise this, it's of import that they figure out how to calculate the coordinates of the vertices.

If you're teaching parallel together with perpendicular lines therefore also cheque out my post linear graphs for to a greater extent than ideas together with resources.

A asking for misconceptions
When I project design lessons, I abide by it helpful to endeavour to predict the misconceptions that powerfulness come upwardly up. Sometimes I'm surprised past times the mistakes that students make, which are oftentimes the effect of my explanations non beingness clear enough. Knowledge of mutual misconceptions comes alongside sense but I think it would exercise goodness novel maths teachers if they could consult a website to encounter examples of the form of things students larn wrong. 

A not-so-common misconception from 1 of Chris Smith's students

American instructor Michael Pershan (@mpershan) has a bright website Math Mistakes where he compiles, analyses together with discusses the mathematical errors that students make. I desire to prepare something similar for the Great Britain (because our curricula together with vocabulary are therefore different), but I won't possess got fourth dimension to exercise the first-class analysis that Michael does. Instead it would only last a collection of misconceptions, tagged past times topic. But I even therefore think it powerfulness last useful.

So I possess got a asking - could you lot outset taking photos of misconceptions inwards your students' piece of work together with emailing or tweeting them to me? Once I've got a modest alternative I'll outset a website together with I hope, similar my Pret homework website, it volition grow speedily together with attempt to last a helpful resource. Thank you lot inwards advance!

That's it for today. Please don't forget to vote for me! :), I'll larn out you lot alongside this cute 'Math nosotros know drama', shared past times @FascinatingVids.