Using Visual.ly in your maths lessons

If haven't already seen it visual.ly is the webs best collection of info graphics and basically a statisticians dream. Visually takes any concept and breaks it down into the simplest key statistics and facts relating to thousands of topics.

As a maths teacher this offers a wealth of data to inform students and a great starting point to lead to larger mathematical questions.

For Instance the info graphic below is related to the explosion of Halloween Stores across the United States. Take a look at this with your own students and do some of your own research in these areas to see how your students compare to the national average. This will lead you to seek out further statistical information regarding your findings.

There are a multitude of options for using maths and writing in Visual.ly and it will really engage your students because it is current, topical and looks amazing. Access it here.

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Free Set of Times Tables Charts for your Classroom

It really amazes me how poor kid are at times tables today which is disappointing because kids who know their times tables well are much better mathematicians than those who don't. Which is contrary to a range of trends in mathematical thinking going around at the moment.

So I have found a great set of times tables charts at Scribbled which also has loads of awesome art & craft ideas that can be printed to either A3 or A4 size depending on what you need. They look great and will really help your kids get a handle on the alphabet of maths. Access them here.

Galactic Theme Park: Awesome Week Long Maths Project

Galactic Theme Park

View more PowerPoint from Kevin Cummins

The Galactic theme park is a brilliant maths project for students from years 3 - 9. It offers a large range of mathematical challenges and students will love the creativity associated with it.

Everything is included here. Teachers and Students will need to work through the downloadable booklet and Grid paper required to complete the task and I have also included a PowerPoint above as an overview of how the project works for you to introduce it to students on your IWB.

This is a great authentic assessment task for students and will keep them busy and engaged for at least 4 - 5 lessons. Enjoy.

How numerals 0 - 9 got their shape - Interesting.

Article

Numbers 0 9_

View more presentations from Kevin Cummins.

Read this first, then view the slideshow above. Do you know why numbers look like they do? Someone, at some point in time, had to create their shapes and meaning. Watch this short presentation and then you will know how our Arabic numbers were originally created a very long time ago and what logic the people that created them used to determine their shapes. It is really very simple and quite creative. You have to admire the intelligence of a person that created something so simple and perfect that it has lasted for thousands and thousands of years and will probably never change. When the presentation gets to the number "seven" you will notice that the 7 has a line through the middle of it. That was the way the Arabic 7 was originally written, and in Europe and certain other areas they still write the 7 that way. Also, in the military, they commonly write it that way. The nine has a kind of curly tail on it that has been reduced, for the most part nowadays, to a simple curve, but the logic involved still applies.

Algebra Equation Solving Tool

This is a great little tool that may save hours of homework for your students for no real gain except their free time but more importantly it is an excellent resource for teachers who want to explain step by step how to solve a difficult algebra equation but don't really know where to start.

Simply plug in an algebra equation and then by the magic of the interweb the answer is generated with a pretty detailed explanation of how it occurred.

There are also some excellent interactive lessons on algebra here.

Give the solver a go here.