Math Techxplorations

Math.  Technology.  Exploration.  Three words that go together well and are the focus of this week's post.  I was a math teacher for over 10 years, and for several of those years, my classroom was the computer lab. It gave me the perfect opportunity to explore how technology and math can come together. Here are some of my favorite web resources and ideas for all grade levels:

Get in the Game
One of the best ways to motivate students to practice basic math skills is to make it into a game.  You can find links to several Scholastic Math games ready for K-5 students to pick and play on the Computer Lab Activity Wheel.  My favorite would have to be the Math Hunt games, where students visit websites for clues to help them solve math word problems.  These games make for great independent center activities when students need extra practice or an additional challenge.

Hands on - Minds on
Using manipulatives such as Base 10 blocks, Tangrams, Algebra Tiles and Geoboards can help students visualize abstract concepts much more easily.  The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives provides you and your students with access to computerized versions of the most common manipulatives for grades K-12.  Even if you have physical sets of the manipulatives for students to use, the virtual versions allow you to project and model problem processes while students work. Plus there are no pesky pieces to lose!  When I taught middle school math, we used the Factor Tree activity under Numbers and Operations to practice factoring large numbers as well as the Percentages activity to explore converting from fractions to percents. Both gave students the tools they needed to practice independently and to explore the relationships between numbers.

Data Discoveries
The way we interpret data is often a function of how it is displayed. A good way to do this is to create a daily survey using Google Forms like this example question on favorite book characters.  As students enter the room, they can answer the question of the day and then view the results in a Google Spreadsheet. After all the data is collected, students can then chart the data or use it to solve authentic problems. 

Let your middle and high school students explore many different types of data graphs by sending them to the ManyEyes website.  There, they'll be able to use pre-collected data sets to create graphs, map overlays, charts and clouds.  An interesting experiment is to select one data set (such as most popular names) and assign each group of students a different visualization tool.  Have students create and share their visualization of the data and determine as a class which gives the best visual representation.  For younger students, you might give Create A Graph a try.

Teacher to Teacher
Finally, I'm always looking for new ideas and often the best way to find them is to see what other teachers are writing about.  Of course, you can always check out the Scholastic Teacher Advisors for their latest suggestions, but if you're looking for high school math teachers, I'd recommend Dan Greene's Exponential Curve and Jackie Ballarini's Continuities.  Both give practical tips and advice straight from their math classroom and are well worth reading.