Maths Teachers At Play Blog Carnival 102

Here is the 102nd edition of the Maths Teachers At Play Blog Carnival (MTaP). It is a collection of blogs submitted by teachers. If you’ve never heard about MTaP then check this out from Denise Gaskins.

The last carnival was hosted by Arithmophobia No More – do take a look.

I am very pleased to host the 102nd edition. So here it is!

Here are some interesting facts about the number 102:

• it is the sum of four consecutive prime numbers (19, 23, 29 and 31)
• 102 is the smallest number with three different digits
• 102 is a Harshad number – a Harshad number is an integer which is divisible by the sum of its digit

Let’s start the carnival. Thanks for all your submissions.

 Robot Function: First up is a great post by Nora Oswald. This post describes a game Nora has created for her Algebra classes. It teaches the concept of Composition of Functions. The game objective is to collect the most victory tokens by winning bot fights. I don’t think I’ve ever quite seen a game like it. Can’t wait to try it.

AP Calculus Curve Sketching Tips & Tricks: This is a collection of strategies for AP Calculus about Curve Sketching by Caitlyn Gironda. In the post Caitlyn describes some of her favourite conversations to have with students about curve sketching.

I’s so confused!!! Lovely post here from Lori Martensen. In it Lori describes how she uses learning menus to help planning for purposeful differentiation. These menus are used for scaffolding learning and enriching learning in order to make learning accessible to all. Really useful tool to use when planning to consider the needs of all.

Doodling With: heading now to the artistic side of mathematics. In this post Dan M explains all about nineteenth century Froebelian textbooks. Take a look at what you can do when faced with a blank piece of paper.

Coin Counting: here Erick Lee describes a situation when he tried to take coins to the bank to be counted and the machines had been removed. Interesting look at if a coin counting machine can ever really be 100% accurate.

Midsegments in Triangles Paper Folding Activity: in this post Mrs E. shows how she uses paper folding to help student understanding of midsegments in triangles in a clear visual way. I love anything visual and involves a bit of folding!  And if singing is more your thing, check out this post by Mrs E. which talks about a lesson using songs to learn about functions.

Holes: Simon Gregg explores the use of pattern blocks. Some fascinating diagrams looking at area of shapes and holes. Excellent for discussions about geometry and patterns. Here’s a little peek – “A dodecagon like this

can be made a lot of different ways (try it!) but they will all have an area equivalent to six squares and twelve triangles.”

There seems to be some problem in Table of 15…. : this blog post by Rupesh Gesota details a problem that a pupil had multiplying by 15 and the type of questioning used to fix the error. Really great to read about how a teacher can, through proper facilitation, not steal away the pupil’s credit of finding and correcting his mistake,… thus enabling him to be an independent problem solver…

I come before you: Joshua Greene sent a link to a blog by A.O. Fradkin talking about a simple and fun activity involving organised thinking. Take a read about using building blocks to discover why order matters.

And finally, a post from Denise Gaskins entitled Prof. Triangleman’s Abbreviated List of Standards for Mathematical Practice. As Denise says herself “I loved Christopher Danielson’s list when he first published it, so I asked to quote it in my Multiplication & Fractions book. To my joy, he offered this expanded version, with permission to post it on my blog as well.” Make sure you have a look to see how can we help children learn to think mathematically.

Well that’s all from me. Hope you have enjoyed this selection of blog posts. Thanks for reading.