Engaging students: Fractions and decimals

In my capstone class for future secondary math teachers, I ask my students to come up with ideas for engaging their students with different topics in the secondary mathematics curriculum. In other words, the point of the assignment was not to devise a full-blown lesson plan on this topic. Instead, I asked my students to think about three different ways of getting their students interested in the topic in the first place.

I plan to share some of the best of these ideas on this blog (after asking my students’ permission, of course).

This student submission again comes from my former student Samantha Offutt. Her topic, from Algebra: fractions and decimals.

How can this topic be used in your students’ future courses in mathematics or science?

Students will use/convert fractions and decimals in a number of ways in future courses in mathematics and science. The best example is percentages. In a probability/statistics class, percentages are a major component for answering many types of problems. For example, in the college course Math 3680, percentages are used frequently. So in a large set of data, one is asked to record the frequency of a certain number, take the frequency and divide it by the total number of entries, and one is almost always ask for them to be written as decimals to the 4^th number. After determining the relative frequency, you can tell what proportions of the data are between certain stipulations. For example, if there were 50 numbers that are between 1 and 20, one can be asked, “What proportion of the numbers are between 7 and 13.” So even to this day in college, students still use this pre-algebra topic.

How could you as a teacher create an activity or project that involves your topic?

I found this awesome project on a teachers blog: http://teachinginroom6.blogspot.com/2012/02/math-social-studies-awesomeness.html, This certain teacher did a social studies spin on colonial era quilts. I think it was awesome. “I then had the students create a 20 cm x 20 cm square (we have cm graph paper available at school). Choosing either 2, 4, or 5 colors, the students created a square that had at least one triangle, quadrilateral, was bright, and symmetrical (Stephanie).” Then the students created fractions by counting how many squares, of the 400 squares, took up each color. Later found the decimal of those fractions, and finally determined the percentage each color owned on their square. The teacher took each square and made a quilt. I’m in love with this project and I think it’d look fantastic in the classroom. Students get to practice multiple skills and are given the opportunity to have their work displayed in the classroom.

How can technology (YouTube, Khan Academy [khanacademy.org], Vi Hart, Geometers Sketchpad, graphing calculators, etc.) be used to effectively engage students with this topic?

Technology is a very useful tool for students. Instead of a teacher lecturing, they can find videos of all sorts on the Internet. If a teacher simply wanted to let Khan Academy engage students and do examples for the kids in a short 8 minutes, then they could use this very helpful video (that the students can reference later at home if they have any questions):

Students get to dive right into the topic and see how it is done, but later when they are at home and have forgotten some things, they have access to the exact video. Technology is very useful both in the classroom and at home. Also this video shows more than just one, simple example. I think it’s great the video shows problems of different levels of difficulty.

References

Khan Academy. “Converting Fractions to Decimals | Decimals | Pre-Algebra | Khan Academy.” YouTube. YouTube, 8 Apr. 2007. Web. 04 Sept. 2015.

Stephanie. “Teaching in Room 6: Math + Social Studies = Awesomeness.”Teaching in Room 6: Math + Social Studies = Awesomeness. 3AM Teacher, 5 Feb. 2012. Web. 05 Sept. 2015.

Engaging students: Fractions, decimals, and percents

I plan to share some of the best of these ideas on this blog (after asking my students’ permission, of course).

This student submission again comes from my former student Perla Perez. Her topic, from Algebra: fractions, decimals, and percents.

A2. How could you as a teacher create an activity or project that involves your topic?

This past summer when I worked as a program assistant for TexPrep, we had the opportunity to have a pizza party. How fun! Well it took longer than we thought to pick out a place and figure out how much we all had to pay. I got to thinking about how this could be a great engaging activity for students to get excited about decimals, fractions, and percents.

The activity will go as follows:

Students are split up into groups of four with each group given a pizza place. Every person has one of the following roles: the researcher, the recorder, the calculator, and the presenter (to compare with other groups). Their goal is to find the pizza place that is the cheapest, gives the most pizza, and figure out how much each individual would have to pay. By comparing each other’s work during presentations, students get to compare, contrast, and see the different methods used to solve the problems. This also gives the teacher an opportunity to understand their comprehension level of the subject and see if converting a percentage is difficult for them or not. When all the groups are finished gathering their information they will present. Afterwards (if allowed), we will reward ourselves with eating pizza! Through this activity students will have to come up their own way to solve these problems. It leads them to work with: Decimals, since they must include every penny (including tax); Fractions, when it comes to figuring out how much each individual owes; and Precents, when asked to compare prices between pizza places.

C3. How has this topic appeared in the news?

Decimals, fractions, and percent are used in media to represent a variety of concepts from the percent of the candidate poll elections to percent chance of rain. Now some of these topics might not sound interesting to most students, but current events such as the movement to raise minimum wage to $15.00 can grab their attention. Students can then be given questions such as: How does that affect the regular worker financially? Are employees working the same hours? Do employees get fewer hours and more pay, or do they keep their regular hours? In the Time article “Here’s Every City in America Getting a $15 Minimum Wage”, it mentions how some restaurants are increasing their prices from 4% to 21% which begs to question, is everything in the market going to increase as well? All the answers to these questions can be found in the news and prompt their interest in actually doing the math to find out the answers. The news also gives them the real world application student’s consistently are trying to find. Engaging students about the news and simply prompting them before the lesson allows students to continue thinking about it as they go forth in the lesson.

Helpful links:

E1. How can technology (YouTube, Khan Academy [khanacademy.org], Vi Hart, Geometers Sketchpad, graphing calculators, etc.) be used to effectively engage students with this topic?

As we continue to advance in technology, we begin to see how there are many ways a student can learn. The internet is full of different educational games, activities, calculators, and above all videos that are useful to educators. There are videos basically for everything. So what better way to engage students than with a video that knows exactly how they feel like in this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGqQOQavbls. The video is a great representation of how a unique activity such as magic can be used to stimulate students in understanding the idea of how fractions, decimals, and percentages relate to one another. Aside from funny videos students also like to interact in games like: http://www.math-play.com/Fractions-Decimals-Percents-Jeopardy/fractions-decimals-percents-jeopardy.html and http://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/fractions-and-decimals. The first game allows students to practice converting fractions, decimals, and fractions from one to another and shows them how they are related. The last website gives teachers a variety of tools to choose from, all of which can help a lot in the classroom.

References:

http://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/fractions-and-decimals.

Engaging students: Solving one-step algebra problems

I plan to share some of the best of these ideas on this blog (after asking my students’ permission, of course).

This student submission again comes from my former student Jason Trejo. His topic, from Algebra: solving one-step algebra problems.

A2) How could you as a teacher create an activity or project that involves this topic?

How can I engage my students with solving for a variable? Off the top of my head, I came up with 3 tried and true surefire ways that would not only further my students understanding but also be a ton of fun for them: Algeblocks with accompanying interactive whiteboard, using a balance and counters, and possibly using snacks (e.g. cookies, chips, candies, etc.)

First things first, the Algeblocks:

Essentially, Algeblocks are made of a variety of cubes and rectangles that represent ones, tens hundreds, thousands, and even the variables x and x². Although obscured in the picture, the Algeblocks mat in the back represents a balance where the fulcrum is “=” and each end of the balance represent both sides of the equation. There is even a place that represents negative numbers! Using the problem “x+4=8”, students would have 8 green blocks to the left of the fulcrum and 4 green blocks with an x block. Students would then add or take away tiles to solve the equation. As for problems such as “4x=16”, the students would display the problem using the blocks and then group the green blocks with the x’s to find there answer. Now that I think of it, I would essentially do the same thing but use either a real balance with any type of manipulative.

B1) How can this topic be used in you students’ future courses in mathematics or science?

Being able to solve single step algebraic problems is a foundation to algebra in general, correct? This means that this will continue to pop up regardless of what math class (and even science classes like chemistry). There will always be problems given to students where they will need to solve for a variable and the final step of even the most excruciatingly, horrific looking algebra problems is usually adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, etc. to get the “x” all alone. In reality, solving an initial value problem (like I currently do in my Differential Equations class) boils down to one step algebraic solutions.

E1) How can technology (YouTube, Khan Academy [khanacademy.org], Vi Hart, Geometers Sketchpad, graphing calculators, etc.) be used to effectively engage students with this topic?

Interestingly enough, I have the perfect example that ties both Khan Academy and the “use of a balance” activity I mentioned earlier. A quick Google search for “one-step equations” gives a link to Khan Academy that allows for a digital balance and you are to solve the equation given with the balance. This would be an amazing tool for teachers to use when they don’t have actual balances for their class or even have their students create a profile on Khan Academy and use it to be able to track extra problems the students can do. Besides Khan Academy, there are even some cheesy yet fun games (like “Equations Pong” off the XP Math website) that would give the students more practice with these equations while feeling like a reward since they are playing a game. Plus, students can go head-to-head in “Equations Pong” and a vast majority of students like to best their friends in anything and everything.

References:

Information on Algeblocks: http://www.hand2mind.com/brands/algeblocks

Image of Algeblock Mats: https://cdn.hand2mind.com/productimages/76986_Algeblocks_Mats_BQS-web.jpg

Khan Academy use for subject: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra/solving-linear-equations-and-inequalities/why-of-algebra/e/one_step_equation_intuition

Equations Pong Game: http://www.xpmath.com/forums/arcade.php?do=play&gameid=105

Engaging students: Rational and irrational numbers

I plan to share some of the best of these ideas on this blog (after asking my students’ permission, of course).

This student submission again comes from my former student Emma Sivado. Her topic, from Algebra: rational and irrational numbers.

D.1: What interesting things can you say about the people who contributed to the discovery and/or the development of this topic?

The famous story on the first discovery of irrational numbers is one of violence. We all know the Pythagorean theorem, a²+b²=c² , but what happens if we have a right triangle with height 1 and base 1? The hypotenuse becomes √2. So, √2, what’s the big deal? Well this is where we turn to history for the answer. Hippassus was an ancient greek philosopher who belonged to the Pythagorean school of thought. Now the Pythagorean’s had a saying, “All is number.” What do we think this means? What Pythagoras meant was that everything in the universe had a numerical attribute. For example, one is the number of reason, five is the number of marriage. So one day when Hippassus was playing with the length of the diagonal of the unit square, or the hypotenuse of a right triangle with base 1 and height 1, he discovered the number √2. Hippassus tried to write √2 as a fraction, or rational number, and found it to be impossible. Therefore, √2 is what we call an irrational number. Well this is where the history turns violent. There are numerous stories to explain the death of Hippassus, but all of them point to his ultimate cause of death being the discovery of these irrational numbers. Irrational numbers were so against Pythagoras and the Pythagorean school of thought that they had this man killed!

https://brilliant.org/discussions/thread/discovery-of-irrational-numbers/

http://www.math.tamu.edu/~dallen/history/pythag/pythag.html

B.1: How can this topic be used in your students’ future courses in mathematics and science?

I believe that the irrational number would be a great place to introduce a simple proof. Students will have to do proofs in multiple math classes in the future and to give them an example with an interesting story might be a good place to start. For example, after telling the story of the discovery of irrational numbers ask the students how Hippassus might have proven that this was true; possibly his dying words. Then give them an outline or fill in the black of the proof that √2 is irrational. This example I found on homeschoolmath.net is given in good language and gives good explanations of why everything is done in the order it is:

Let’s suppose √2 is a rational number. Then we can write it √2 = a/b where a, b are whole numbers, b not zero.

We additionally assume that this a/b is simplified to lowest terms, since that can obviously be done with any fraction.

From the equality √2 = a/b it follows that 2 = a²/b², or a² = 2 · b². So the square of a is an even number since it is two times something.

From this we know that a itself is also an even number. Why? Because it can’t be odd; if a itself was odd, then a · a would be odd too. Odd number times odd number is always odd.

Okay, if a itself is an even number, then a is 2 times some other whole number. In symbols, a = 2k where k is this other number. We don’t need to know what k is; it won’t matter. Soon comes the contradiction.

If we substitute a = 2k into the original equation 2 = a²/b², this is what we get:

2	=	(2k)²/b²
2	=	4k²/b²
2*b²	=	4k²
b²	=	2k²

This means that b² is even, from which follows again that b itself is even. And that is a contradiction!!!

WHY is that a contradiction? Because we started the whole process assuming that a/b was simplified to lowest terms, and now it turns out that a and b both would be even. We ended at a contradiction; thus our original assumption (that √2 is rational) is not correct. Therefore √2 is rational.

Obviously this would have to be presented slowly, but I believe that the students could do this and understand it.

http://www.homeschoolmath.net/teaching/proof_square_root_2_irrational.php

I would begin by showing the movie clip from Life of Pi when Pi is reciting all the digits of Pi that he knows, or another video of someone reciting a ridiculous number of digits of pi. Then I would ask the students how many digits of Pi there are? When no one could tell me an exact answer I would introduce the irrational number and explain how the decimals will go on forever because this number cannot be written as a fraction like a rational number. At the end of class you could show the kids the Princeton University Pi Day celebration complete with Einstein look alike contests, and pi reciting competitions to win $314.15!

http://www.pidayprinceton.com/

References:

Engaging students: Adding and subtracting a mixture of positive and negative integers

I plan to share some of the best of these ideas on this blog (after asking my students’ permission, of course).

This student submission again comes from my former student Diana A’Lyssa Rodriguez. Her topic, from Algebra: adding and subtracting a mixture of positive and negative integers.

A2. How could you as a teacher create an activity or project that involves your topic?

Algebra tiles are a fun, hands-on way to help students understand how to add or subtract positive and negative integers. Using a mat with a positive and negative side, students can manipulate the 1-tiles. Using the yellow side of the tile for the positive numbers and the red side for the negative numbers, students pair together opposing colors and take those away. The tiles leftover is the answer to the problem. Here is an example:

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

B1. How can this topic be used in your students’ future courses in mathematics or science?

Adding and subtracting positive and negative integers is a one of the most crucial foundation skills that students must learn. This concept is demonstrated and needed in almost every math scenario. In its simplest form, students begin to learn this concept around the first grade, 1+1=2. This process is carried over into third grade with multiplication. Then negative numbers are introduced while in sixth grade. Adding and subtracting opposing integers is a continuous concept that consistently builds upon itself, even through algebra, geometry, calculus, or most especially the real world. There is not just one future math course students will use this in; they will use it for the rest of their lives, even if they do not realize it.

E1. How can technology (YouTube, Khan Academy [khanacademy.org], Vi Hart, Geometers Sketchpad, graphing calculators, etc.) be used to effectively engage students with this topic?

YouTube is always a great resource when trying to engage students. The video below explains how positive and negative numbers work when adding and subtracting them.

A lot of the time students struggle with numbers in general, which makes it harder for them to understand why a concept in math works. This video explains how positive and negative numbers work in relation to each other by using characters from Batman instead of numbers. Using the balance and watching the arrow move in either direction, depending on the type of character that was added into or taken out, allows students to see why positive and negative numbers work the way they do. Once they understand this, it makes working with numbers a whole lot easier. This video also does a wonderful job of maintaining the students’ interest by keeping it related to popular culture by incorporating Batman and the Matrix.

New world record for largest prime number

As of this week, we have a new world record for the largest known prime number:

$2^{74,207,281}-1$

The adjective known is important, because there are an infinite number of prime numbers (but not all of them are known). A good video describing this finding is below.

A good article is here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/01/20/the-newest-prime-number-is-more-than-22-million-digits-long/?tid=sm_tw

My Mathematical Magic Show: Part 2c

Last March, on Pi Day (March 14, 2015), I put together a mathematical magic show for the Pi Day festivities at our local library, compiling various tricks that I teach to our future secondary teachers. I was expecting an audience of junior-high and high school students but ended up with an audience of elementary school students (and their parents). Still, I thought that this might be of general interest, and so I’ll present these tricks as well as the explanations for these tricks in this series. From start to finish, this mathematical magic show took me about 50-55 minutes to complete. None of the tricks in this routine are original to me; I learned each of these tricks from somebody else.

For my first trick, I chose the most boring of the routine. Everyone in the audience had a piece of paper and many had calculators. Here is the patter for the first trick:

To begin this trick, write down any three-digit number on your piece of paper. Just make sure that the first digit and the last digit are different.

(pause)

Now, reverse the digits and write down a new number. For example, if your number was 321, the new number will be 123.

(pause)

Now, subtract the small number from the big number. If your second number is larger, then put that number on top so that you can subtract the two numbers.

(pause)

Your difference is probably a three-digit number. However, if you ended up with a two-digit number, you can make it a three-digit number by putting a 0 in the hundreds place.

Next, I want you to reverse the digits of the difference to make a new three-digit number. Write this new number under the difference.

(pause)

Finally, add the last two three-digit numbers that you wrote down.

If everyone follows the instructions and does the arithmetic correctly, everyone will get a final answer of 1,089.

The next part of my mathematical magic show is showing everyone why the trick works. Yesterday, I gave an explanation suitable for upper elementary students. Today, I’ll give a more abstract explanation using algebra.

The succinct explanation can be found on Wikipedia:

The spectator’s 3-digit number can be written as 100 × A + 10 × B + 1 × C, and its reversal as 100 × C + 10 × B + 1 × A, where 1 ≤ A ≤ 9, 0 ≤ B ≤ 9 and 1 ≤ C ≤ 9. (For convenience, we assume A > C; if A < C, we first swap A and C.) Their difference is 99 × (A − C). Note that if A − C is 0 or 1, the difference is 0 or 99, respectively, and we do not get a 3-digit number for the next step.

99 × (A − C) can also be written as 99 × [(A − C) − 1] + 99 = 100 × [(A − C) − 1] − 1 × [(A − C) − 1] + 90 + 9 = 100 × [(A − C) − 1] + 90 + 9 − (A − C) + 1 = 100 × [(A − C) − 1] + 10 × 9 + 1 × [10 − (A − C)]. (The first digit is (A − C) − 1, the second is 9 and the third is 10 − (A − C). As 2 ≤ A − C ≤ 9, both the first and third digits are guaranteed to be single digits.)

Its reversal is 100 × [10 − (A − C)] + 10 × 9 + 1 × [(A − C) − 1]. The sum is thus 101 × [(A − C) − 1] + 20 × 9 + 101 × [10 − (A − C)] = 101 × [(A − C) − 1 + 10 − (A − C)] + 20 × 9 = 101 × [−1 + 10] + 180 = 1089.

However, I don’t particularly care for the succinct explanation, and so I’d prefer to give my audience the following explanation. Let’s write our original three-digit number as $ABC$ , which of course stands for $100 \times A + 10 \times B + C$ . Then, when I reverse the digits, the new three-digit number will be $CBA$ , or $100 \times C + 10 \times B + A$ .

Of course, because the first number is bigger than the second number, this means that the first hundreds digit is bigger than the second hundreds digit. This means that the first ones digit has to be less than the second ones digit. In other words, when we subtract, we have to borrow from the tens place. However, the tens digits are the same for both numbers. That means that I have to borrow from the hundreds place also.

I’ll illustrate this for both subtraction problems:

Now I’ll subtract. The hundreds digit will be $A - 1 - C$ . The tens digit will be $9 + B - B$ , or simply $9$ . Finally, the ones digit will be $10 + C - A$ . This is a little hard to write on a board, so I’ll add some dotted lines to separate the hundreds digits from the tens digit from the ones digit:

The next step is to reverse the digits and add:

I’ll begin with the ones digit:

$(10 + C - A) + (A - 1 - C) = 10 - 1 = 9$ .

No matter what, the ones digit is a 9.

Continuing with the tens digits, I get $9 + 9 = 18$ . I’ll write down $8$ and carry the $1$ to the next column.

Finally, adding the hundreds digits (and the extra $1$ ), I get

$1 + (A - 1 + C) + (10 + C - A) = 1 - 1 + 10$ .

Therefore, no matter the values of $A$ , $B$ , and $C$ , the end result must be $1089$ .

To complete the routine, I’ll ask a volunteer (usually a young child) to play the magician and repeat the trick for the audience. I consider this an important pedagogical step — the child enjoys being the magician on stage, while the audience lets the routine sink in one more time before I move on to the next magic trick.

Engaging students: Factoring polynomials

I plan to share some of the best of these ideas on this blog (after asking my students’ permission, of course).

This student submission again comes from my former student Banner Tuerck. His topic, from Algebra: factoring polynomials.

A1. What interesting (i.e., uncontrived) word problems using this topic can your students do now?

In relation to a specific case one can generate a word problem well within their students reach by relating the factors of a said quadratic polynomial to the length and width of a rectangle or perfect square. Many online resources, such as http://www.purplemath.com/, offer diverse and elaborate examples one could use in order to facilitate this concept. Nevertheless, this way of viewing a factored polynomial may appear more comfortable to a class because it is applying the students preexisting knowledge of area to the new algebraic expressions and equations. Furthermore, it has been my experience that geometric activities interrelating algebra aid in straying students away from ignoring the variable in an expression as a value.

A garden measuring 12 meters by 16 meters is to have a pedestrian pathway installed all around it, increasing the total area to 285 square meters. What will be the width of the pathway?

The above problem is a prime example pulled from the Purple Math website one could use to illustrate a physical situation in which we need to actually determine the factors in order to formulate a quadratic expression to solve for the width. It should be noted that some of these particular word problems can quickly fall into a lesson relating more towards distributing and foiling factors to form an expanded form equation. However, as an instructor one can easily work backwards from an expanded equation to interpret what the factored form can tell us, say about the garden with respect to the example given above.

B1. How can this topic be used in your students’ future courses in mathematics or science?

Factoring polynomials allows students to further comprehend the properties of these expressions before they are later applied as functions in areas such as mathematics and physics. For example, projectile motion stands as a great real world topic capable of enlightening students further on the factors of the polynomial. Specifically, how these factors come about geometrically and how knowing their role will benefit our understanding of the functions potential real world meaning. Lastly, factoring polynomials and evaluating them as roots during middle and high school mathematics will definitely be used when students approach college level calculus courses in relation to indefinite and definite integrals. The previous are just a few examples of how factoring polynomials plays a role in students’ future courses.

How can technology (YouTube, Khan Academy [khanacademy.org], Vi Hart, Geometers Sketchpad, graphing calculators, etc.) be used to effectively engage students with this topic?

Doing a simple YouTube search of the phrase “factoring polynomials” allows anyone access to nearly 57,000 videos of various tutors, instructors, and professors discussing factoring and distributing respectfully. I would say that future generations will definitely not be without resources. That is not even to mention the revolutionary computation website that is www.wolframalpha.com. This website in and of itself will allow so many individuals to see various forms of a factored polynomial, as well as the graph, roots (given from factors), domain, range, etc. Essentially, computation websites like Wolfram Alpha are intended to allow students the opportunity to discover properties, relationships, and patterns independently. However, there is a potential risk for such websites to become a crutch the students use in order to get good grades as opposed to furthering their understanding. Similarly, with the advancing technology of graphing calculators students will become more engaged when discussing polynomial factorization for the first time in class. Many modern calculators have the ability to identify roots, give a table of coordinates, trace graphs, etc. Some even have a LCD screen or a backlit display to aid in viewing various graphs. Although, just as with computation engines, calculators could potentially distract students from thinking about their problem solving method by them just letting the calculator take over the calculation process. Therefore, I would suggest using caution regarding how soon calculators are introduced when initially engaging a class in factoring polynomials.

References:

http://www.purplemath.com/

http://www.purplemath.com/modules/quadprob2.htm

http://www.wolframalpha.com/

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=factoring+polynomials

Engaging students: Multiplying binomials

I plan to share some of the best of these ideas on this blog (after asking my students’ permission, of course).

This student submission again comes from my former student Andy Nabors. His topic, from Algebra: multiplying binomials.

A2. How could you as a teacher create an activity or project that involves your topic?

Multiplying binomials is an interesting concept because there are so many ways in which this can be done. I can think of five ways that binomials can be multiplied: FOIL, the box method, distribution, vertical multiplication, and with algebra tiles. I would incorporate these methods into one of two different ways. In either case, I would split the class into five groups.

In the first way, I would assign each group a different method of multiplication. The groups would each be responsible for exploring their method, working together to master it. Then each group would be responsible for making a poster describing their method in detail. Then would then present their poster to the class, and the students not presenting would be taking notes. Already having one concept of binomial multiplication, the students would be seeing other methods and deciding which makes most sense to them.
In my second idea, I would have five stations in the classroom each with their own method. The groups would rotate station to station figuring out the different methods collaboratively. The groups would rotate every 7-10 minutes until they had been to every station. Then the class would discuss the strengths/weaknesses of each method compared to the others in a class discussion moderated by the teacher.

These activities rely on the students being able to work and learn in groups effectively, which would present difficulty if the class was not used to group work.

B1. How can this topic be used in your students’ future courses in mathematics or science?

I had the privilege of teaching a multiplying binomial lesson to a freshmen algebra one class in CI last spring. My partner and I focused on the box method first, and then used that to introduce FOIL. The box method was easier to grasp because of the visual nature of it. In fact, it looks a lot like something that the students will definitely see in their biology classes. The box method looks almost identical to gene Punnet Squares in biology. In fact, my partner and I used Punnet Squares in our Engage of that lesson. We reminded the students of what a Punnet Square was, and then showed them a filled out square. We went over how the boxes were filled: the letter on top of each column goes into the boxes below and the letters to the left of the box go in each box to the right. Then we showed them an empty Punnet Square with the same letters before. We inquired about what happens when two variables are multiplied together, then filled out the boxes with multiplication signs in between the letters. The students responded well and were able to grasp the concept fairly well from the onset.

E1. How can technology be used to effectively engage students with this topic?

The internet is fast becoming the only place students will go for helpful solutions to school problems. This activity is designed to be a review of multiplying binomials that would allow students to use some internet resources, but make them report as to why the resource is helpful. The class will go to the computer lab or have laptops wheeled in and they will be given a list of sites that cover binomial multiplication. They will pick a site and write about the following qualities of their chosen site: what kind of site? (calculator, tutorial, manipulative, etc.), how is it presented? (organized/easy to use), was it helpful? (just give an answer opposed to listing the steps), did it describe the method it used?, can you use it to do classwork?, etc.

This is a sample list, I would want more sites, but it gives the general idea I’m going for. (general descriptions in parentheses for this project’s sake)

http://www.mathcelebrity.com/binomult.php (calculator, shows basic steps of FOIL of inputted problem)

http://www.webmath.com/polymult.html (calculator, shows very detailed and specific steps of FOIL of inputted problem)

http://calculator.tutorvista.com/foil-calculator.html (calculator, shows general steps of FOIL, not the inputted problem)

http://www.coolmath.com/crunchers/algebra-problems-multiplying-polynomials-FOIL-1.html (calculator but only problems it gives itself, more of a practice site)

http://www.mathwarehouse.com/algebra/polynomial/foil-method-binomials.php (FOIL tutorial site with practice problems with hidden steps)

http://www.themathpage.com/alg/quadratic-trinomial.htm (wordy explanation, lots of practice problems with hidden answers)

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra/multiplying-factoring-expression/multiplying-binomials/v/multiplying-polynomials-2 (many tutoring videos, just the writing no person)

http://www.zooktutoring.com/now-available-my-very-first-instructional-math-video/ (many tutoring videos, tutor is seen with the work)

http://illuminations.nctm.org/Activity.aspx?id=3482 (algebra tile manipulator)

I will assume as a teacher that my students already look for easy solutions online, so I want to make sure they look in places that will help them gain understanding. I would stress that calculator sites are dangerous because if you just use them then you will not be able to perform on your own, but could be helpful to check your answer if you were worried. At the end of the lesson they would have a greater understanding of how to use internet sources effectively and have reviewed multiplying binomials.

Resources:

http://www.mathcelebrity.com/binomult.php

http://www.webmath.com/polymult.html

http://calculator.tutorvista.com/foil-calculator.html

http://www.coolmath.com/crunchers/algebra-problems-multiplying-polynomials-FOIL-1.html

http://www.mathwarehouse.com/algebra/polynomial/foil-method-binomials.php

http://www.themathpage.com/alg/quadratic-trinomial.htm

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra/multiplying-factoring-expression/multiplying-binomials/v/multiplying-polynomials-2

http://www.zooktutoring.com/now-available-my-very-first-instructional-math-video/

http://illuminations.nctm.org/Activity.aspx?id=3482

Engaging students: Finding points on the coordinate plane

I plan to share some of the best of these ideas on this blog (after asking my students’ permission, of course).

This student submission comes from my former student Tracy Leeper. Her topic, from Pre-Algebra: finding points on the coordinate plane.

How could you as a teacher create an activity or project that involves your topic?

After introducing the topic to the students, I will inform the students that we will be playing a game on the computer. After pulling up the game on the screen and demonstrating how it works, I will then issue a challenge using the maze game. The challenge will be to see how many mines they can avoid while using the least number of moves. Before class, I will play to get my best score, to show the students what I am looking for, and then I will see who can beat my score. To encourage the students to try their best, I will offer extra credit to anyone who can get through the same number of mines, with fewer moves. Multiple attempts are possible, and I will allow students to turn in their best game by the end of the week. By offering extra credit, it will encourage the students to play the game at home as well as in the classroom. This game will be fun for the students, as well as support the topic of finding points on the coordinate plane. A common struggle is confusing the x and y axis, so by playing the game it will reinforce the proper name for the corresponding axis, and which coordinate goes first in the ordered pair.

How can this topic be used in your students’ future courses in mathematics or science?

Finding points on the coordinate plane is used in a variety of disciplines. Any type of graph used to represent data, with the exception of a pie chart, uses at least one quadrant of the coordinate plane. Typically, it is quadrant 1, since both numbers are positive. The graph is just labeled to reflect the data shown, instead of using x and y. Scientist use graphs to represent data that has been collected from either observation or experimentation, usually labeled as time and the correlating measurement. In math the coordinate plane is used to represent any function, with x as the input and y as the output, as well as helping to graph things that are not functions, such as circles, and other polygons. As well as adding a third dimension, and including a z axis for graphing 3D objects, such as spheres and cubes. The coordinate plane is also used in other disciplines, such as geography, for determining map coordinates.

How has this topic appeared in pop culture (movies, TV, current music, video games, etc.)?

Video games have changed tremendously since the days of Pong. The graphics, storylines, characters, and amount of programming required has become much more intricate. One aspect of the games that appeals to players is the moving background that changes and shifts according to where the character is in the game, and how the camera angle is changed by the player. This enables different scenery and perspectives throughout the game. This is done by using points on a 3D graph, and as the character moves, the reference changes according to their position. The fundamental skill for being able to build the game this way, is to first learn how to plot points on a 2D graph. Since most teenagers like video games, and the graphics involved, this would be a good point to make, so the students could see the connection between the math they are learning, and something they really enjoy doing. This same skill is used for calculating GPS coordinates on our phones and computers.

References:

http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/MazeGame/