26 May 2016

5 Maths Gems #56

This is my 56th update from the world of Maths EduTwitter. If you're not a tweeter, or if you're wondering whether you've missed anything, here's a summary of some of the latest ideas and resources for teaching maths.

1. Euro 2016 Maths
@dooranran makes lovely maths resources. I think teachers will really like the activities he has prepared for Euro 2016. Topics include vectors, Pythagoras, trigonometry, angles on parallel lines, time, pie charts and estimating the mean.

2. Pythagoreanmath.com
I discovered a fabulous website, pythagoreanmath.com, which has lots of cool content including an amazing section on Euclid's Elements. Do check it out. I also really like their 'Complete Explanation for Area of a Circle Formula'.
3. Find someone who can
@rondelle10_b shared an interesting idea which Phil Bruce (@pbrucemaths) adapted for maths. In 'Find Someone Who Can', students ask other members of the class to answer questions using the sheet pictured below. This develops students' mathematical communication skills as they are required to explain solutions to classmates. You can download the PDF from Phil's page of revision resources.
4. Colin Foster's Activities
I discovered Colin Foster's 'Instant Maths Ideas' books a while ago. I enjoy browsing through them every now and then - they're packed full of excellent tasks and questions.

For example, in Possible or Impossible? students are asked to decide whether each statement in the table below is possible or impossible. If it’s possible they are asked to give an example and if it's impossible they have to say why.
Another great activity, this time from Colin's chapter on rounding, is this task which looks at various scenarios in which students have to calculate 17 ÷ 5. In each case they have to think carefully about how to round their answer.
5. More from MathsPad
Another awesome free resource from MathsPad: Using a Calculator - Odd One Out. This activity addresses lots of common errors and misconceptions.
Updates
I've written quite a lot of blog posts since my last set of gems. Here they are in case you missed them:

I've also added some A level revision resources to TES - check out my TES Shop to download these for free.

There's loads going on in June and July - see my conferences page for details. First up for me is researchED Maths and Science in Oxford on 10th June - the programme is excellent so I'm really looking forward to it.

Bookings are now open for my session at LIME Oldham on 20th June where I'll be talking about quadratic methods. I also recommend that you book a place at Edexcel's Warwick Conference where I'll be presenting a session on 'The Wonderful World of Maths Resources'

Finally, I'll leave you with this set of maths exam meme posters - I put these up in my maths corridor a couple of weeks and they went down really well with students in every year group. They were created by Paul Collins (@mrcollinsmaths) - you can download them here.


4 comments:

  1. Brilliant - something for everyone! Thank you!

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  2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  3. Those aren't even memes!

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