math

pthomas's picture

A Week of Pi, Day 4: Videos to Celebrate Pi Day

Submitted by on Thu, 03/14/2013 - 10:02am

Today is the day: 3.14 aka Pi Day! But we are celebrating all week long... 

pthomas's picture

A Week of Pi, Day 3: Pi Day Activities

Submitted by on Wed, 03/13/2013 - 2:45pm

We've talked about What Pi Is, and have seen some Pi Day Contests you could enter or create. Now for more Pi Day activities. Here are a few links to lists of Pi Day activities:

pthomas's picture

A Week of Pi, Day 2: Pi Contests

Submitted by on Tue, 03/12/2013 - 1:17pm

​Yesterday, We covered What Is Pi?  Now to do something with it.

Pi Day

pthomas's picture

Week of Pi, Day 1: What Is Pi?

Submitted by on Mon, 03/11/2013 - 1:30pm

Pi Day is this week, so let's celebrate with a weeklong series on the famous number.

ebuffington's picture

The Median of Math and Humor

Submitted by on Wed, 02/13/2013 - 9:29am

I Love Math

Have you ever said something that just came out the wrong way?  Has a compliment ever bounced around in your head and when it came out your mouth it sounded more like a slight? 

shoaglund's picture

My Experience with Fibonacci

Submitted by on Wed, 01/23/2013 - 1:44pm

As I was driving my ten year old daughter to one of her many activities a few weeks ago, she asked me a question that made me break out in a sweat…

“Mom, have you heard of Fibonacci?”

“I’m sorry dear, have I heard of the what?”

“The Fib-O-nacci sequence, Mom.”

As we sat there in a longer than acceptable awkward silence, I racked my brain trying to figure out what it could be. My daughter is quite the fashionista – so maybe it’s an Italian fashion designer? Or maybe it’s some slang term the young kiddos are using nowadays.

Ashley MacQuarrie's picture

How do you teach math you don’t know?

Submitted by on Fri, 11/09/2012 - 8:44am

Tips For Teaching Math To Your Child

Scared of Math

Of all the subjects we study in school, math is the most despised by a long shot. In one poll, 37% of adults said that they “hated” math in school, more than twice that of any other subject.  A number of factors can play a role in forming a person’s negative associations with math – everything from a poor teacher in school, a traumatic or embarrassing experience in math class, misconceptions about the importance or ease of learning math, and parental bias against the subject can lead to a strong dislike of mathematics.

For parents and learning coaches who struggled with math, or simply hate the subject, you may be wondering how you can teach your own child a subject that you have difficulty with yourself. If your child is in middle or high school, you may even find that your kids are learning math that you don’t remember or never fully understood to begin with. Here are some tips and things to bear in mind when teaching your own child math.

ebuffington's picture

Solving Future Problems

Submitted by on Wed, 09/19/2012 - 6:44am

Preparing Students and Children To Solve Problems That Don't Yet Exist 

A Funny Meme for Word ProblemsI was reading through a PowerPoint article, Did You Know, about some aspects of the world population and technology in the world, and finally some important ideas for education in the future.  The concept that really struck home with me is that, “the top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 didn’t exist in 2004 … We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist… Using technologies that haven’t been invented… In order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.”  What a daunting task educators and parents have in such a quickly changing world.

In my mind the best way to prepare students and children to solve problems that don’t yet exist is to help them gain the knowledge that is needed, teach some problem solving strategies, foster critical thinking skills, and practice practice, practice.  This is why I love Math Word Problems.  I’m not a sadistic teacher who enjoys watching my students suffer, I just like math that applies what we’re learning to real life.  I remember one assignment we had that asked a question about the cost of food at a restaurant and some students made a calculation error and found that the orange juice was $110.  The crazy part was that they submitted that response for a grade.  There are only two reasons I can think of for this kind of a response, either they have gone to too many baseball games, or they didn’t think much before submitting their responses.

pthomas's picture

Flexible Math Tricks

Submitted by on Thu, 09/06/2012 - 7:18am

It's the Amazing Math Trick!

Some friends were over for pizza the other day, and one of the kids (an eighth grader) said she wanted to show me a math trick. I said sure, and so she asked me to pick any number. I mentally chose my favorite number, but then she could somehow tell that I had made an unusual choice. So, she told me to pick a whole number. I accepted her new constraint and said I had picked a new number. Again she was still suspicious, so she insisted that I pick a positive whole number. Deflated, I chose accordingly and followed along as she had me:

  1. double it,
  2. add 6,
  3. divide by 2, and then
  4. subtract the original number
shoaglund's picture

Indy Car Racing and STEM Education

Submitted by on Wed, 08/29/2012 - 12:32pm

Encouraging STEM Education through Race Car Driving

I love finding out about how companies are embracing the importance of Science, Technology, Enginnering and Math education in creative ways to encourage students to pursue these fields of study.  I can not stress enough the important role STEM education plays in preparing our kids for their future in the workforce. 

Eariler this week, Ohio Virtual Academy student and race car driver Zach Veach stopped by for a visit on his way to the Grand Prix of Baltimore which is scheduled for September 1-2.

A day before the big event, more than 150 seventh- and eighth-grade Baltimore-area students will get a behind-the-scenes look at how science, technology, engineering and math principles apply to race car driving.  And an up close look at what they are learning in their classroom and how it applies to real life.

Pages