Showing posts from August, 2010

Factoring the time

I stumbled upon this comic that you might enjoy... factoring the time (from ).

Carnival time: Math Teacher's at Play


Math tricks by a silly guy


The equal sign problem

An interesting piece of research has just come out on the misconceptions with the equal sign (=). Students' understanding of the equal sign not equal According to the research, US students exhibit this misconception much more often than students in other countries. It has to do with thinking of the = sign as an operator. Kind of like thinking that = means "to do" the operation. For example, a student with that misconception tends to solve the problem 7 + 6 = ____ + 2 by adding 7 + 6, and placing the answer on the empty line. The correct way is of course to think of the equality: 7 + 6 equals 13, so the other side has to equal 13 too. 11 fulfills this little equation: 7 + 6 = 11 + 2 I have known of this problem for years, and have tried to include problems in my Math Mammoth books to help children NOT to develop this wrong idea. For example, children solve 200 + 50 + 6 = ____ + 200 + 50 in the place value section. Or, I use problems where they have to

Math Mammoth Geometry 2

I have just finished writing the material for Math Mammoth Geometry 2 book. The material in it is suitable for grades 6-7. Download price is $5.80. The main topics in the book include: * angle relationships * classifying triangles and quadrilaterals * angle sum of triangles and quadrilaterals * congruent transformations, including some in the coordinate grid * similar figures, including using ratios and proportions * review of the area of all common polygons * circumference of a circle (Pi) * area of a circle * conversions between units of area (both metric and customary) * volume and surface area of common solids * conversions between units of volume (both metric and customary) * some common compass-and-ruler constructions. I've included several complete lessons from the book as samples (PDF). Feel free to download these and use with your students! Angles in Polygons Review: Area of Polygons, 1 Surface Area Besides those, there are two other sample pages:

Review of Harold Jacobs Geometry

I have just posted a comprehensive review of this book that is popular among homeschoolers for a high school geometry course. Click to read: Review of Harold Jacobs Geometry book

Math assessment and placement
