Universal Themes in Math? With Fractions!? What if we used a universal theme to guide our study of fractions? These very big ideas get students thinking about fractions in a new way.
Math Project: Disneyland Parking Structure Let's develop a math project to challenge students who have demonstrated a mastery of multiplication and are ready to explore its applications. We'll count the parking spaces in the Disneyland parking structure!
Which is longer: a Ray or a Line? Let's move beyond memorizing definitions and get kids grappling with the fascinating concept of infinity!
Could we fit 1,000 kids on the playground? 10,000? If your students can find the area of a square then, armed with Google Earth, they can also figure out how many students you could pack into your school's playground.
Thinking Like Equivalent Fractions Go across disciplines by asking students to write a story about fraction equivalence.
Olympic Medal Math Project In the paper, I read about Norway's dominance of the Winter Olympics, despite being a tiny country. I love this juxtaposition of unexpected data! Let's turn it into a math project. Here are some questions I thought of…
When A Math Puzzle Isn’t Very Puzzling It looks like a fun puzzle. But it's actually just a low-level worksheet in disguise!
The Surprises Within a Triangle’s Angles Discovering what is interesting and unexpected about a triangle's angles. What twists have I unintentionally spoiled for my students over the years?
Exploring Circumference With Famous Circles Remembering the formulae for area and circumference of a circle is often a challenge for students due to their surface similarities as well as the additional confusion of radius and diameter. I like to tackle them one at a time and give students a chance to explore the origin of each formula. Let's look at circumference today by utilizing some famous circles from around the world... and beyond!
