Math Vocabulary Becomes Art

By Jon OaksDec 16, 2010
I was researching the best way to use maps to introduce the topic of ordered pairs to a beginning algebra class, when I stumbled upon something totally different, and totally unique:  A website called Wordle that takes text and turns it into JAVA created art.  I actually threw the RSS feed for this website into their art generator (a wonderful option, by the way), and the results are below.  Immediately, my wheels started spinning about how to use this in a math class, and viola!  The nice people who write the Ed Tech 4 Math Blog Technology & Software For Teaching Math already…
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Making Math Fun

By Jon OaksDec 15, 2010
I was having a discussion with someone today about making math more fun, and a few websites popped into my mind that I haven't shared on here before.  Let me give you a quick rundown of what I think are a few unique resources (all free, of course): Exploring Space Science Mathematics (http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov/poetry/MathDocs/spacemath.html) - This website is from NASA and has activities on topics such as time calculations, decimals, integers, mean, median, mode, equations, and scientific notation.  I regularly use the scientific notation activities in my classes as a way to wrap up a section on the topic.  If I…
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Math Comic Strips

By Jon OaksDec 15, 2010
One point this semester I wanted to have students create comic strips about math.  I tried creating one of my own one morning at 4 AM, but was unsuccessful.  My first attempt at a good one came just a few minutes ago, and I thought that I would post it here for inspiration of what can be done with http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/.  I think what would be even better is to make a whole bunch of these comics and then shove them into http://animoto.com/ or http://prezi.com/.  What do you think?
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Math Poster Contest

By Jon OaksDec 15, 2010
Inspired by a poster of the Quadratic Formula that one of my students brought in today, I'm making it official!  Next term I'm going to have a Math Poster Contest between both of my classes at IADT, and I think that in addition to being a 100 point project, that the winner will receive a gift card to an undisclosed location.  I don't want to disclose that information yet because if this thing gets to be as big as I am envisioning it to be, I might recruit some sponsors for some even bigger prizes.  I have some tricks up…
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Math Manga

By Jon OaksDec 15, 2010
I was talking with some of my students this afternoon who asked me about my interest in Anime and Manga.  Of course, I immediately was intrigued by the possibility of combining Math and Manga and did a Google search (I'm really trying to avoid using Google as a verb these days) for "Math Manga".  Well, apparently Lerner Publishing Group has a series on Manga Math Mysteries.  And then there are the Math Games from Manga High, which include the ever so popular "Ice Ice Maybe," a wonderful game for teaching students estimation.  It actually has taught me a few things…
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Math Themed Haunted House

By Jon OaksDec 14, 2010
Earlier this semester (before I got sick for an extended period of two and a half weeks), I was really entergetic about trying out new ideas in the classroom.  Although the execution by the students could have been a little better, the students were engaged, which counts as a big deal to me.  If I do this haunted house activity with students in the future, there are a few things that I know that I would do differently, such as having a precise rubric prepared to hand out to the students that checks for participation (some students particpated less than…
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Teaching Equations to Pre-Algebra Students

By Jon OaksDec 14, 2010
I got in a heated discussion the other day with a couple of colleagues about how to teach equation solving to pre-algebra students.  The equation x + (1/2) = (3/4) came to mind because generally I start a discussion of equations by showing examples of one-step equations.  However, this equation (or most equations with fractions for that matter) is special because the quickest way to solve it may not always be the easiest way to solve it.  This can cause a dilemma if I am discussing one-step equations, but NEED to show the students two step equations in order to…
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Mathematics Origami

By Jon OaksDec 14, 2010
This morning with a stack of blank, unused paper sitting right next to me, I was thinking about some new projects that I might be able to assign my students for next semester.  Then it popped into my mind... Origami!  I think an assignment on origami would be especially interesting to my students in art and design.  I am looking forward to seeing what students will create in the semesters to come.  By the way, below is a link to a related TED talk by Robert Lang.  It could serve as a good way to introduce an entire unit on…
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Happy Grading, Everyone!

By Jon OaksDec 10, 2010
For anyone in teaching, grading is probably one of the most time consuming things to be done, especially if the class sizes are large, which they inevitably are due to shrinking budget sizes, etc.  So, to celebrate all of the grading that will be done by teachers in the next few weeks with finals rolling around, I thought that I would share a few links that were sent to me recently:   http://notthatkindofdoctor.com/2010/10/the-five-stages-of-grading/ http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1404
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