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- Adventures in Statistics - Scavo, Petraroja
A Web unit preprint of a paper by teachers Tom Scavo and Byron Petraroja that describes a mathematics project involving fifth grade students and the area of classrooms, including measurement, graphing, computation, data analysis, and presentation of results; to appear in "Teaching Children Mathematics".
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- Algebra - Fun with Calendars - Cynthia Lanius
Take any calendar. Tell a friend to choose 4 days that form a square. If your friend tells you only the sum of the four days, you can tell her what the four days are. How does the puzzle work? Includes a extension page for designing your own puzzle, teachers notes, and links to calendar pages on the Web. Mathematics topics: assigning variables, solving simple linear equations, factoring.
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- Bricks Activity - Suzanne Alejandre
A classroom activity (also called the Masonry Problem; a variation on polyominoes) aligned to the NCTM and California Standards, to be explored through manipulatives (dominoes). Students explore different possibilities of making brick walls with and without fault lines, using diagram, process, and solution in their problem solving. A teacher lesson plan is provided.
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- Fractals - Cynthia Lanius
This lesson plan for exploring fractals is designed so 4th through 8th grade students can work independently and be assessed innovatively. It conforms to the 1989 NCTM standards, and provides links to other fractal sites. Contents: Why study fractals? Making fractals: Sierpinski Triangle, Sierpinski Meets Pascal, Jurassic Park Fractal, Koch Snowflake. Fractal Properties: Self-similarity, Fractional dimension, Formation by iteration. Teacher-to-Teacher notes; Fractals on the Web.
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- How Many Different Paths - Karen Wheeler; SCORE Mathematics
A discrete mathematics lesson for working on addition and multiplication skills, with connections to counting, adding, multiplying, and Pascal's triangle. Aligned to the California State Standards. From the Schools of California Online Resources for Educators SCORE Mathematics Lessons.
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- Locker Problem - Suzanne Alejandre
A classroom activity (also called 1000 Lockers) aligned to the NCTM and California Standards, to be explored through the use of manipulatives and a ClarisWorks spreadsheet. Students then look for patterns and write the answer algebraically. The problem: imagine you are at a school that still has student lockers. There are 1000 lockers, all shut and unlocked, and 1000 students. Suppose the first student goes along the row and opens every other locker. The second student then goes along and shuts every other locker beginning with number 2. The third student changes the state of every third locker beginning with number 3. (If the locker is open the student shuts it, and if the locker is closed the student opens it.) The fourth student changes the state of every fourth locker beginning with number 4. Imagine that this continues until the thousand students have followed the pattern with the thousand lockers. At the end, which lockers will be open and which will be closed? Why? A teacher lesson plan is provided.
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- Magic Squares: Math, History, Geography - Suzanne Alejandre
Designed primarily for middle school and older elementary school students, this Math Forum Web unit includes classroom activities for four different squares: Lo Shu, Sator, Dürer, and Franklin, three of them demonstrating increasing complexity using numbers, and one made up of letters, with number and symmetry questions and links and suggestions for history / geography / writing activities for teachers interested in interdisciplinary work. Includes directions for building magic squares, definitions, discussion of some special properties of magic squares, a Java applet, and links to other magic square Web sites.
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- The Million $ Mission - Cynthia Lanius
You have your choice of two payment options on your new job: 1. One cent on the first day, two cents on the second day, and double your salary every day thereafter for the thirty days; or 2. Exactly $1,000,000. (That's one million dollars!) What's the best choice? Includes pages on exponential growth and patterns, links to exponentials on the Web, questions, and teachers notes.
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- Pascal's Triangle - Math Forum/USI
A Web unit designed to support workshops given by the Math Forum for the Urban Systemic Initiative (Philadelphia and San Diego). Read about the history of Pascal's triangle and learn to construct it; view illustrations of number patterns to be discovered; carry out interactive investigations in JavaScript or the Geometer's Sketchpad, and explore this famous triangle through lesson plans that feature questions, answers, discussion, and student worksheets.
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- Place Value: K-3 - Andra McLeod
A "box full" of place value manipulatives for the classroom, with descripion, lesson ideas, and objectives listed for each of five types of manipulative.
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- PlaneMath - InfoUse, in cooperation with NASA
Materials for elementary school students about math and aeronautics, designed to stimulate and motivate students with physical disabilities in grades 4-7 to pursue aeronautics-related careers via the development and delivery of accessible math education materials on the Internet. Recognizing that math curricula for students in these grades is most often built around the manipulation of tools such as pencils, compasses, and rulers, the designers of this site have endeavored to teach the same concepts without relying on the physical acuity of the student. Activities involve finding the shortest path between two cities or how many people can board your plane, flying a herd of buffalo to the prairies, learning to fly a rescue helicopter and how planes lift, knowing when an overcast sky is really overcast, flying a kite, and planning a flight around the country. Teachers are invited to register their classes.
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- Tangrams - Tom Scavo
Tangrams, a puzzle that helps develop spatial-visualization skills, may also be used to introduce or reinforce geometric concepts such as congruence, similarity, symmetry, etc. This unit for grades 4 through 6 uses tangrams to compute the area of polygons without formulas, introducing the terms congruent and similar. Contents: Constructing Your Own Set of Tangrams; The Area of Tangram Pieces; More Tangram Activities. Links to other tangram resources on the Web are also provided.
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- Traffic Jam Activity - Suzanne Alejandre
A classroom activity (also called Hop, Skip, Jump) aligned to the NCTM and California Standards, to be explored through large movement experience, manipulatives, and an interactive Java applet. Students then revisit the activity, look for patterns, and write the answer algebraically. The activity: there are seven stepping stones and six people. On the three lefthand stones, facing the center, stand three of the people. The other three people stand on the three righthand stones, also facing the center. The center stone is not occupied. Everyone must move so that the people originally standing on the righthand stepping stones are on the lefthand stones, and those originally standing on the lefthand stepping stones are on the righthand stones, with the center stone again unoccupied. A teacher lesson plan is provided.
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The Math Forum is a research and educational enterprise of the Drexel School of Education.