5 Maths Gems #13

In my gems posts I portion approximately of the best teaching ideas I've seen on Twitter each week. This is my 13th gems post. I promise you're non triskaidekaphobic.

1. Flying Numbers
At Julia Smith's (@tessmaths) creativity workshop at the lastly maths conference, she shared an activeness inward which students brand 'Flying Numbers' to hang from the ceiling inward the classroom or corridor. It industrial plant similar this: they select a discover together with brand that discover from forest inward Design & Technology (drill a hole at the overstep for hanging). They pigment their discover hence purpose fine markers or chalk pens to decorate it alongside facts almost that number. This is a lovely chance for students to purpose the cyberspace to explore discover properties together with discovery out all sorts of wonderful mathematical things that are non on the curriculum. The examples below were made at the maths conference - it was a actually enjoyable exercise.

Ed Southall (post almost teaching a binary lesson).

Alice inward FractalLand is a stunning animated slideshow. Show it to your degree together with explore sequences, fractals, the golden ratio together with more. The text at the bottom explains each concept real clearly. I love this! This is precisely the variety of affair I was referring to inward my post service 'A house for gimmicks?' when I said that nosotros should brand fourth dimension to enrich our students' teaching alongside interesting mathematics that is non on the GCSE syllabus.

The Primary and Secondary Treasure Hunts are real good designed. Full instructions are included together with at that topographic point are questions on areas of mathematics such equally cryptography, primes together with probability. The questions are rather challenging for the intended historic menses groups - if I was organising an inter-school maths challenger hence I mightiness purpose these questions.

The video collection is due to grow - an exciting prospect if this 2 infinitesimal wordless video exploring triangles is a gustation of things to come. 

3. Imbalance Problems
If you're non familiar alongside Don Steward's resources hence halt reading this post service straightaway together with depository fiscal establishment friction match out his mobiles', hence 'mobile inequalities' together with finally 'mobile moments'.

In mobiles, the activities foremost alongside discover problems that learn progressively harder, hence motion on to algebraic balancing problems. Here's a numerical instance which tin displace live solved alongside arithmetics together with logic (fill inward the missing weights hence that everything balances correctly). 

There are lots of variations, such equally this 1 where the weights must add together upward to the discover inward the triangle (this is a straightforward example):

The algebraic problems educate skills inward writing algebraically together with simplifying expressions. In the work below, students accept to consummate the missing weights to brand the combined hanging weight equal to 8n.

These are swell problems. Check out all 3 posts to run across how Mr Steward developed the idea. It's equally good worth reading Paul Salomon's (last week's gems post has paid off - both Debbie Hart ‏(@Debbie_Hart_UK) and Jane Appleton (‏@JaneAppleton24) accept tried it.

I've been busy writing a post service almost circle theorems which volition live cook soon. Also, later seeing approximately swell Halloween together with Guy Fawkes maths resources, I've started to collate a 'seasonal resources' page. I've seen hence many skillful Christmas resources, it's difficult to select the best simply I'm getting there.

So at that topographic point you lot go, my 13th gems post. It wasn't scary at all.

Image source: guernseydonkey.com