1512-Week 6

Measuring Up.
       How do you measure up in Geometry? I think Geometry is scary when you get to finding the area and volume of objects. There are so many formulas you have to remember. Working out these problems with just pen and paper can be time consuming. Finding the Volume of objects such as a cone or a hemisphere almost requires the use of a calculator.
       After some googling, I found a really great site with almost every kind of calculator. It is called Calculator Soup. This site is very helpful with finding those tough answers. Although it may start with the calculator to find your answer, it also has the formulas needed to work the problem out on your own. It is a very simple site. You can even add them on Facebook.
       The following is an example of the Cylinder Calculator. It gives you options to change what measurements you have for the object to find the one you are looking for. It also shows the image of the object with labels of the measures you have. After you plug in your data, it gives you your answers below. It is a very useful tool.

Circular Cylinder Calculator

Choose a Calculation:                                            Calculate V, L, A | Given r, h                                           Calculate h, L, A | Given r, V                                           Calculate h, V, A | Given r, L                                           Calculate r, V, A | Given h, L                                           Calculate r, L, A | Given h, V                                          r = h = Units*:                                            meters                                           centimeters                                           feet                                           inches                                          V = L = T = B = A = Circular Cylinder Shape r = radius h = height V = volume L = lateral surface area T = top surface area B = base surface area A = total surface area π = pi = 3.14159 √ = square root

1510-Week 6

Addicted to Mathematics!
        After researching the benefits of math to the brain, I found a neat article about Brain Waves on the BrainWavesBlog. I learned that each time you solve a tough math problem, logic puzzle, or read a book, your Beta Brain Waves kick in. Beta Brain Waves are considered to be among the fastest brainwave frequencies. Participation in these activities increase your logical thinking. Beta Brain Waves have been associated as being a natural antidepressant, and like many other things, too much can cause stress and anxiety.
        Studies have shown that doing brain teasers, math and logic puzzles, etc. actually helps to slow mental decline. The Washington Post published an article called Short Mental Workouts May Slow Decline of Aging Minds, Study Finds. The article states that exercising the brain can carry the mind in the same way physical exercise protects and strengthens the body. It also says that older adults who did the basic exercises were three times as fast as those that only did basic living activities, such as reacting to road signs and checking medicine ingredients--abilities that can spell the difference between living independently and needing help.

       Every newspaper has some kind of brain teaser; word puzzles, Sudoku, etc. Don't take advantage of your brain. Tease it daily. :)


Try some:

• FreeFunPrintables.com
• PrintableBrainTeaser.com
• Squigly's Brain Teasers
• Puzzles & Stuff

1512-Week 5

 Outdated Materials:

        Students are flying by teachers with their ease of use of technology. As teachers we need to keep up with our students, not by playing video games all day of course, but by learning how to use tools such as SmartBoards to better educate our students. There are many new technologies out there now that would greatly benefit our students.

Math Humor:

        Humor is a good way to hook anyones interest in something. Young students love to laugh and love jokes. Starting math class with a math joke can lighten the mood, make math more interesting, and make the subject less intimidating. 

   Example 1:

Question: What is the area of a circle? 

Answer: pi R^2? 

Response: Pie are not square. Pie are round. Cornbread are square. 

   Example 2:  

Question: What does the little mermaid wear? 

Answer: An Algebra.

        I recently read an article called Why Laughter Makes Classroom Management More Effective. This is a very insightful article. It talks about how adding humor to a lesson can make you a more likable teacher, which can give you more power to influence their behavior. Laughter can break down those social-emitional walls to bring together diverse groups of students in one happy classroom. The article also points out that it takes little planning to bring laughter into the classroom.

What you know about Math?

1510-Week 5

Penguin Math

        Making math “fun” and connecting it to the “real world” can be a little tough. The Let’s Play Math Blog post, Penguin Math, was a very easy read and explains a very simple technique to use in the classroom to help with word problems. Although it is fictional characters you are using for the word problem examples it still relates to a real world problem and students like to see where they can apply these new skills they are learning.
        There are many ways you can connect math to student's lives. It is the job of the teacher to find out what students are interested in and how they can incorporate that into a math lesson. It is in this way that you hook the students interest in math. The site, Word Problems for Kids, gives a few examples of ways to relate to students (it is now outdated for current students as it was written in 1999). The site Plane Math.com also has an activities page for students to explore and do independent learning.
        Another good site for older students to do some math independently is What Good is Math? This site offers a few different real world problems students can explore and solve on their own. This site also links to another page called Mathletics, which one math application to each sport it list. This would be great for those students that have more interests in sports over math to get them more interested in math.


Other Math Hook Examples: 
    Videos- 

    Games- Elementary Math Games
                Cool Math Sites


    Comics-