Depth and Complexity: Ethics… In Math!? The Ethics prompt of depth and complexity fits so easily into the humanities… but what about ethics in math?!
An Inductive Exploration of Linear Graphs Let's play with linear graphing! First, don't set this up as a direct instruction lesson. That wouldn't be playing. Instead, capitalize on your students' ability to think inductively and recognize patterns. Set up a situation where they can construct their own meaning.
Math Game: Heaps Heaps is a lovely math-y strategy game that requires no more than paper and pencil to play.
Solving An Authentic Classroom Problem: The Desk Arrangement How often do you give your gifted students the opportunity to solve authentic, relevant problems? What is more authentic to a student than solving classroom problems? And what excites students more than having ownership over the classroom seating? Here's an authentic problem solving idea that ties in public speaking skills, group work, and classroom ownership.
Goldbach’s Conjecture Our look at math conjectures continues with Goldbach's Conjecture, which states that all even integers greater than 2 can be written as the sum of two primes. Is this true for all cases? Another authentic, unsolved question.
Math and Novelty: What if we didn’t have 10 numerals? Looking for some ways to challenge your advanced mathematicians? If you'd like to keep them on the same topic as the rest of your class, consider increasing the complexity of your current unit. If they're in need of more advanced curriculum to keep their creativity flowing, try to bring in novel ways of looking at math.
Mathematical Curiosities Sometimes you encounter that math student who is simply interested in numbers. Here are some famous (and not so famous) sets of numbers that have curious properties.
To Show Or Not To Show Work In Math We must be careful not to admonish our intuitive learners for being intuitive. As teachers of the gifted, we must set up learning environments that are best for our students. And if they're doing it all in their heads (and getting it right!), then the environment needs to change.
The Collatz Conjecture A "conjecture" is an idea that is believed to be true, but has not yet been proven. They are authentic unanswered questions for students to explore. The Collatz Conjecture uses two simple rules to get from any number to 1. It seems to work for all numbers...
Math Project: Shrinking Airline Seats What kind of math project could you build based on the shrinking dimensions of seats on the Boeing 777?
