Tutorials for Math

Learning a topic in class and having your teacher there to assist you when you need it is great. However, sometimes trouble arises when you go home and have to practice problems on your own. Of course you have your notes to follow, but if you don't understand the concept it's hard to understand what it is you're doing. In seventh grade one of the on going problems are integers. Even though we practice and use them from the beginning of the year it is the one topic that students seem to get students all the time. i found a great tutorial link that explains integers very clearly. One thing that is great about it is the kids can play it over and over again until it sinks in. Another fantastic quality is if the parents are trying to help they can watch and learn as well. I have many parents who want to help their kids, but have trouble with the math themselves. So this is not only good for the kids, but for the parents as well. Integers are used in everyday life. Think about the temperature. In the summer we have high temperatures like 85 degrees Fahrenheit and in the winter we have temperatures that are -10 degrees Fahrenheit. Check out this site and tell me where else integers are used in real life. There are other topics that the tutorials address as well, such as fractions. So feel free to explore those and let me know where you could use any of them in real life too. When you go to the site go to the links for Virtual Library Home. Click the Science and Math link. Scroll down to the bottom and click on Visual Math Learning. Next click on Lessons. Now you can choose whichever lesson you'd like to explore. Have fun!

http://www.math.fsu.edu/Virtual/

Musical Math

Math is definitely involved in learning about music. It is involved with counting beats and measures when reading music. I know a great deal of my students are in band and whether you know it or not every time you go to band you are practicing math at the same time. You may not be writing equations or solving problems, but you are using basic math skills to stay on tempo. I found this link that explains how music can be incorporated into math lessons. One of the lessons for the seventh grade discusses musical intervals, frequency, and ratios. Another lesson for the eighth grade addresses keys and scales. It's very interesting to see how musical aspects are built-into math. Have a look for yourself!

http://cnx.org/content/m11638/latest/

Mathematical Art

Just like math and science go hand in hand a great deal of math and art go hand in hand. I know this blog focuses on math used everyday, but some math stems from history. The website I found, http://mathforum.org/~sarah/shapiro/, addresses how math was used back in the day. The ancient Egyptians used to use string for a great deal of their math. This website consists of a great deal of links that include lesson plans that contain ancient Egyptian methods of how to do math. One of the links within the site is"Family Math", which describes a lesson dealing with measurement and using string to measure. It's fascinating. Have a look and tell me your thoughts.

Math Involvement with the Local, State, and Federal Government

I've researched these sites and found that math is involved in everyone of them. It is particularly involved in the financial branch of each of the governments. I want you to check out each site and give a specific example of how math is used in any of the many financial branches of each government.

Local Government
http://www.pleasantville-ny.gov/Pages/index

State Government
http://www.ny.gov/

Federal Government
http://www.usa.gov/

The Math Museum

When I was younger I thought museums only dealt with historical stuff. Boy was I wrong! There are all sorts of museums for all different subject areas, and they are awesome! A museum is the perfect place to see where math is used everyday and in so many different ways. Math is used in many different forms of art and a million different types of science. The site http://www.mathmuseum.org/ is a math museum where math is looked at through art and science. It is called Goudreau Museum of Mathematics in Art and Science. Not only does this site show you all the different aspects of math, but there are links that help you if you have a math project or report. It even assists teachers with the curriculum and lessons. There is a plethora of information and a library of resources for kids, parents, and teachers. You will be taken back after looking at this amazing site. Check it out!! Let me know what you think of it.

Weather: Math and Science Go Hand In Hand

Most people relate math and science together. Well the weather is something that we deal with everyday, which has a great deal of science involved and a great deal of math involved. I found this fantastic link that has numerous amount of math related situations. For example, when you go to this page there is a line graph which is constantly being updated that deals with the time at the weather station and the speed of the wind every 5 minutes. You can actually see the line move! You can find the weather anywhere in the world. When you click on the link go to the top left and type in the area you want to find the weather for. Check it out and let me know where else math is used in the site.

http://www.n4nw.org/

Every Student Loves The Smartboard/Whiteboard!!

I don't know about anybody else's students, but the minute I offer to do anything on the smartboard/whiteboard my student's hands go up like it's going out of style. They love to participate when technology is involved. I can't blame them I love working on the smartboard/whiteboard. There are lessons that I plan, such as learning about Pythagorean Theorem, where I discuss real life situations and the smartboard/whiteboard makes it possible for me to visually show the kids what I'm talking about. For example, I have a friend who is a photographer. He needed to take a picture that was diagonally across a body of water, in which he required the distance so he could properly focus his camera lens. He called me up and said, "You know when your students ask you when they are ever going to use the stuff you teach them?" I just starred laughing. I asked him what happened and he told me that he had to use Pythagorean Theorem to figure out the distance diagonally across the water (because he couldn't physically measure it) so he could adjust his camera lens to take the best picture. He was so excited that he used something in real life that he never thought there would be a use for. I was so excited that he was able to remember it and use it. I always tell my students this story because I want them to know that they are not just learning this information for the heck of it. The smartboard/whiteboard allows me to simulate these types of situations, which is great and motivates the kids to participate. The following link has many different smartboard/whiteboard activities that the students can participate right at their own computer. Take a look!

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/15.cfm?s=15&p=245,index