Adventures in Mathopolis

More Math Blogs

2011-10-18T11:48:00.000-05:00

I just added a page to my blog called "More Math Blogs". Click on the tab above to access some fantastic resources for math teachers.

Google Forms: Paperless Math Evaluations

2011-10-17T10:23:00.001-05:00

Go paperless. Create an online quiz. Gather the data. Display the results quickly and easily. Use Google Forms, a part of the popular online application software called Google Docs. Share forms you create via blogs, websites, or wikis. The data is automatically collected for evaluation and can then be viewed, sorted, printed, and/or graphed.

If you already have a Google account, go to www.docs.google.com and sign in with your email and password.

If you don’t have a Google account:

Go to www.docs.google.com.
Click on the link at the top right corner of the page that says Sign up for a new Google Account.
Select which email account you want to use as your login.
Fill out the rest of the Create an Account information.
Click on the “I accept. Create my account.” button at the bottom of the page.

Seven different types of questions are available for inclusion in your Google Form: text (short answer), paragraph text (long answers), multiple choice (pick one), check box (select all that apply), choose from a drop-down list, scale (rate the following), and a grid.

To create a form, click the drop-down arrow on the Create button and then select Form. Then start adding questions. Just as easy as that! To edit the form, position your cursor over the question to be edited and then select one of the three tools that appear at the right (edit, copy, or delete).

To view the data, double-click on the form’s name to open it in a Google spreadsheet. Then from the Form menu, select Edit form. A really great feature is the ability to also see the data as a graph. Open it in the spreadsheet, then from the Form menu, select Show summary of responses.

Use as a ticket out activity, extra credit opportunity, quick (or not-so-quick) quiz, or pre-unit assessment tool. Effective, efficient, paperless, immediate, and no extra work for you.

Try it out. Take a quick quiz here:

Math Quiz

Web 2.0 and Math: Wallwisher

2011-10-03T22:11:00.000-05:00

Post notices where students will actually find them by using Wallwisher, a free online tool for building an electronic bulletin board. Once created, you can then invite anyone (teachers, parents, students, etc.) to add on to your “wall”. Items on a wall are posted as sticky notes. These posted notes can include linked pictures, You Tube videos, PowerPoint files, PDF documents, Excel spreadsheets, or web page links and can be moved, arranged, and rearranged as needed.

To get started:

1. Go to the Wallwisher website at www.wallwisher.com.

2. Create an account.

3. Double-click anywhere on the wall to add a sticky note.

4. Share your wall by click on the Do More tab. Click on Embed to display the HTML code.

5. This HTML can then be added to a website as a link or emailed to participants.

Math curriculum connections:

1. Class survey.

2. Problem of the day.

3. KWL chart.

4. Message board from teacher to students.

5. Sorting numbers.

6. Vocabulary matching.

A fantastic tool, it’s much more versatile than marker boards or traditional bulletin boards. AND no staples!

Teaching Roman Numerals with Microsoft Excel

2011-09-27T16:21:00.001-05:00

Yes, I know they are no longer part of the national standards for mathematics. But we can fudge that a little (or a lot). Just put Roman Numerals under the heading of ‘patterns’, because there is a logical puzzle-deciphering aspect to them. Or fit them under ‘operations’, because students have to add and subtract to arrive at the Arabic Numeral equivalent.

But don’t ignore them, especially since Excel can provide you with a simple ‘discovery’ activity solution to teaching Roman Numerals.

1. Type the headings.

a. Open a new blank spreadsheet workbook.

b. Click in cell A1 and type the word “Arabic”.

c. Press tab to move to the next cell to the right, cell B1.

d. Type the word “Roman” and press Enter or Return.

2. Type the Roman numeral formula.

a. Click in cell B2.

b. Type the following formula and press Enter or Return.

=ROMAN(A2)

Hints:

· You don’t have to capitalize the word “roman” or the A. The spreadsheet will do that for you.

· The formula you typed will also appear in the formula bar (the long white box) above the worksheet.

What the formula means:

· All spreadsheet formulas must begin with an equal sign (=).

· ROMAN tells the spreadsheet to change a number from an Arabic numeral (the kind of numbers you use all the time) to a Roman numeral.

· A2 tells the spreadsheet to look in cell A2 for the Arabic numeral.

3. Type Arabic numerals into cell A2 and decode the Roman numerals.

a. Create a chart with the headings Arabic Numeral, Roman Numeral, and Arabic Addition Problem.

b. Start simply by having students type and record responses to numbers like 3, 5, and 20. Build to harder numbers: 53, 123, 2253. And finally incorporate numbers that require subtraction like 9 and 149.

c. Lines of a completed chart might look like this:

And now your students will be able to tell you precisely which Super Bowl they’re watching. Talk about a real-world application!

Hundreds Chart Activities

2011-09-23T11:55:00.000-05:00

I found this terrific post about using hundreds charts in the classroom. Great ideas here for elementary and home school teachers.

20+ Things to Do With a Hundreds Chart

Enjoy!

Domino Fractions

2011-09-17T11:52:00.000-05:00

Looking for a tactile manipulative for helping students visualize fractions? Dominoes and fractions are natural partners:

They both have two numbers.
The numbers on both are separated by a line.
Since the numbers are represented by dots, it’s a great visual for introducing fraction concepts.
And the dominoes can be turned either way without a number becoming upside down.

Writing Fractions – For the beginning fractionier, have students select a domino and then turn it so it represents a fraction less than one.

Simplifying Fractions – Students select a domino, and then turn it so it represents a fraction less than one. To help them determine if the domino fraction can be simplified, have them redraw the domino on paper. Then ask them experiment to see if they can circle dots to create the same number of groups both above and below the fraction line. If they can, then the fraction can be simplified.

Improper Fractions – Select a domino and turn it so it represents an improper fraction. Once again, they can redraw the domino on paper to help them. Circle groups of dots in the numerator equal to the number of dots in the denominator. Count the circled groups to make the whole number. Uncircled denominator dots become the numerator.

Equivalent Fractions Game – Turn all the dominoes upside down. Two or more students all draw dominoes from the pile at the same time. As they turn them over, they try to find a pair of dominoes that are equivalent fractions. The first student to find a pair, wins the game. Turn the dominoes face down and play again.

Add, Subtract, Multiply, or Divide Fractions – Students select a pair of dominoes from the pile. Depending on their skill level, have them add, subtract, multiply, or divide the fractions represented by the dominoes.

Since domino sets come in double-sixes and double-twelve’s, the difficulty level of each of the above activities can easily be modified.

Oh, and don’t forget. In the original dominoes game, players match domino ends. They score when the sum of the end values is a multiple of five. Okay, so that doesn’t have a lot to do with fractions, but it is, after all, dominoes.

Web 2.0 and Math: The Wonderful World of Wordle

2011-09-13T18:48:00.000-05:00

No, it’s not a typo. That’s the name of the site. Wordle is an interactive site that generates word clouds from typed or imported text. As the frequency of a word in the text increases the size of the word in the cloud also increases.

I immediately thought of some great ways students could use Wordle to make posters of themselves, write about characters in a story, or create a poster on any “word” topic to save, print, and share. So how can Wordle (the very name of which implies words not numbers), be used in math? Here are three ideas.

1. Geometry in the Real World – Students locate and list examples of geometric shapes in the real world. In their Wordle poster, they then type where they found each shape and then the name of the shape.

Example: rectangle window rectangle house sphere ball sphere globe square tile circle clock…

The more a shape is repeated the larger it will be in their Wordle. Follow up with a discussion about what properties of a shape make it most popular and least popular in the “real world”.

2. Wordle Alphabet – Each students type their name into a Wordle poster with a space between each letter of their name.

Example: p e n n y s m i t h b o b j o n e s

Click on Go to create the poster, then from the Language menu, select Do Not Remove Common Words. Print the poster and have students measure each letter as appropriate for their grade level (millimeters, inches, ½ inches, etc.).

3. Wordle Survey – Ask students a survey question and have them type their answers into Wordle. Then have students analyze the data according to the Wordle created. They can also go to the Language menu click on and Show Word Counts to view a table of the tallied survey results.

Wordle site: www.wordle.net