Two Math Websites: PhET & Mathigon

PhET is a collection of approximately 100 interactive simulations in science and math developed and maintained at the University of Colorado at Boulder.  You can find PhET at https://phet.colorado.edu/ I’ll focus on the math simulations which make up less than half of the simulations. If you're interested in STEM applications, the 'other' simulations can help …

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Magic Squares

As an educator of both pre- and in-service mathematics teachers I frequently urge my students to use activities in their teaching which require mathematical thinking, perseverance, and problem solving.  In addition, teachers are always searching for activities which can be used by all the students in a class rather than choosing different activities for the …

Sources of Data

This week I’m planning to identify some sources of data for you to use during your teaching of statistics, data literacy, etc.  I’m convinced that using real data, whether collected in a survey by our students or downloaded from sources easily found on the web, engage students in ways in which many textbook problems do …

Mathematics Vocabulary Activities

It’s nearly impossible to separate mathematics and language.  We can’t teach math and students can’t ‘do’ math without naming mathematical objects and concepts and without language to express mathematical ideas.  In the October, 2020 issue of Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK–12, the authors of the article, Developing and Writing Language Objectives, state “the role …

Sadness

I regret to inform you that this blog's co-author, Alexandra Veselovsky, passed away on January 10, 2021 after a long illness. Aleks was more than my co-author; she was my partner in helping make teachers the best they can be. She had indomitable spirit and drive, and I was pleased by her work ethic and …

Not a Math Person

Not a Math Person? Do you hear this, in one form or another, from your students?  Or, do you think that about yourself?  If so, I suggest you read the following - Living Proof: Stories of Resilience Along the Mathematical Journey which is a free download from the Mathematical Association of America. https://www.maa.org/press/ebooks/living-proof-stories-of-resilience-along-the-mathematical-journey-2  The book …

THOUGHTS ON THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR – 2020

First of all, most of the courses I teach are fully online, and most of my students are graduate students who ‘attend’ our university while juggling their full-time jobs as teachers and about half are parents too.  Expecting them to place my courses as their highest priority every day is unrealistic Most of these K-12 …

Educate Yourself this Summer

It’s been quite a school year; when the year started in September who among us would have thought we’d be teaching remotely, that some of our friends would be envious of the relative permanence of our jobs, and parents would admit how difficult it is to teach and engage their children for at least 6 …

Social Justice Mathematics

I’m providing information and access for two websites which can help you use mathematics to make ‘sense’ of the ‘perfect storm’ of current events. Perhaps you’ve completed this spring’20 semester and are wondering how you can begin the new term in September without ignoring what happened the preceding semester. I suggest you explore SlowRevealGraphs (yes, …

Sense-making and reasoning in the time of Corona Part II

In a recent blog post I urged teachers to focus on developing students’ sense-making and reasoning skills rather than adding new content.  I shared some personal favorites tools for doing this and today I would like to share a few more.  https://playwithyourmath.com/ is a teacher run blog that asks students to solve visual puzzles such …