You are here: Home / Archives for teaching math

Extra Credit Solves Everything

by 8 Comments

Extra Credit ButtonExtra Credit.  It is the great equalizer.  It solves a multitulde of problems.  If a student receives a low score on a math quiz or test, he can just come up and ask me for extra credit and make his problem go away.  Get a D on a math test?  Go write a 10-page paper about a famous mathematician and all will be forgiven.  Memorize the first 100 digits of pi and your D will miraculously become an A.  Who cares if you still don’t understand the math?  Extra credit is the answer!

After I returned a recent test I received two emails from parents as well as several inquiries from students wondering what they could do for extra credit, in order to raise their grade.  As you can tell by my sarcastic musings above, I am not a big fan of extra credit.  Extra credit is unnecessary for students who have demonstrated their mastery of a particular set of mathematical skills.  For those who have not mastered these skills, I find it a cheap substitute for the learning which should have taken place. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Lesson and Project Downloads, Math Lessons and Projects, Teaching Math Tagged With: , , ,

Math in the Movies

by 19 Comments

Oliver Knill, from the Department of Mathematics at Harvard University, has compiled a very interesting web page that includes video clips from 155 movies in which mathematics appears.  I enjoyed browsing this list and watching some of the clips of movies that I have seen in the past.  Many, but not all, of the movies can be watched using the full-screen options. 

Note: I believe that the video clips I have chosen to highlight below are classroom safe.  Some of the other clips on the website do include language inappropriate for the classroom.

Here are my favorite clips from movies that I am familiar with in this list: 

(Click the links below to watch each clip.)

Father of the Bride

In this hilarious clip George Banks (Steve Martin) is infuriated that hot dogs and hot dog buns are not sold in complementary packages at his local supermarket.  Dogs come in packages of 8 and buns in packages of 12.  I know that those of you with math minds out there have already calculated that George would have found contentment if he had just purchased 3 packs of hot dogs and 2 packages of buns.  Come to think of it, I think my textbook has an LCM problem like this in it! [Read more…]

Filed Under: Math Fun, Math in Real Life, Teaching Math Tagged With: , , ,

7 Ways to Energize Your Math Class

by 2 Comments

Student in Energized Math ClassroomHave you ever had a day when it felt like all of the energy and enthusiasm had been sucked out of your classroom?  I know that there are times when I feel like I am slogging through a math lesson and I am somehow vaguely disconnected from the students.  I am covering the math content standards but the energy in the classroom is low.  I know that I need to escape from the doldrums, if only for a minute or two, and then get back to the lesson after energy has been restored.

With that in mind, here are 7 ways to energize your math class and put your students in a positive frame of mind that will lead to more effective learning:

1)  Do Something Different   (Big Purple Spider)

I have a big purple spider that hangs just under the lights right when you enter my classroom.  It is attached to fishing line that runs around different light poles and attaches to a nail on the other side of my class.  On the second day of school, and at random times throughout the year, I lower the spider in front of unsuspecting students as they enter my class.  Some get scared, some smile, some act as if they never saw it, and a few have even screamed. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Classroom Management, Math Games, Math in Real Life, Teaching Math Tagged With: , , ,
« Previous Page