CK-12 Foundation provides a library of free online textbooks, videos, exercises, flashcards, and real world applications for over 5000 concepts from arithmetic to history

Many students begin school with a love of math, but stumble when they reach algebra. With the increasing prevalence of mobile learning, though, on-demand apps and resources can help students stay on top of their algebra lessons. Here, we've gathered a handful of algebra apps summarized on APPitic.com, an app resource site with more than 6,000 apps in more than 300 subcategories.

g(Math) is updated to include plotting points from a Table in a Doc with a new help website, gmath.guru!
I am excited to announce the latest update of g(Math) now can plot data from a table in a Doc! All you need to do is select the table and then click on the Get Points from Table button. It will take the column on the left to be the x values and the column on the right to be the y values. Once the points are in the Sidebar, you can plot them with g(Math).

http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/texas/texas-schools-balk-at-state-calculator-requirement/nd9xC/

Guest Post: Steve Young is Chief Technology Officer for Judson ISD in Texas: Over Spring Break in Texas, the Austin American Statesman published an article about Texas school districts being upset that they were going to have to spend $100 a calculator for eighth grade students taking the state math assessment, as required by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). The gist of several districts' concerns is that they would rather spend the $100 on a more versatile device for students' learning than a calculator that will one be used only for math. And many districts already have tablet 1:1 initiatives where both Apples' App store and Google's Play store have many free or low-cost graphing calculator apps. Why should these districts have to spend $100 more per device, especially given that the state issued the calculator mandate without any funding to support it? Fast forward to March 20 and the TEA's Commissioner of Education, Michael Williams, issued a press release allowing districts to pilot students using graphing calculator apps on tablets on a pilot basis. This was a welcome move for districts not wanting to spend money on calculators when they already have multifunction tablets that already can host a calculator app. Notably missing from the announcement was allowing other devices to be used for testing, such as laptops or Chromebooks, which also have graphing calculator apps. Nonetheless, it is refreshing to see a state agency trying to help districts use their funds for tools that best match students' needs.

Great resources for PBL in math

The Problem Generator - which is available to all Wolfram Alpha Pro subscribers now - creates random practice questions for students, and Wolfram Alpha then helps them find the answers step-by-step. Right now, the Generator covers six subjects: arithmetic, number theory, algebra, calculus, linear algebra and statistics. The difficulty of the questions can be tuned down for students in elementary school and tuned up for those in college calculus classes. As the company notes in today's announcements, the material for students in elementary and secondary schools closely follows the Common Core Standards initiative.

*Some free, some paid. Some of the paid ones have free versions. Note: Please feel free to add your own. If you feel that an app is in the wrong place or think one should be deleted, please make a notation before moving and/or deleting and I will check it. Thanks, -Mike Models taken from P-5 NYS Common Core Implementation Guide for "A Story of Units"

How the Common Core is redefining math instruction Integrating skills throughout the curriculum, and drilling deeper on concepts, are among key changes. What does teaching math look like under the Common Core standards? Lots of classroom interaction and more inquiry-based approaches to learning, according to experts who are helping schools integrate the standards into instruction....more

Tableau Software today announced that it will make its flagship visual analytics product free to students currently enrolled at an accredited K-12 institution, college or university worldwide. Tableau for Students is a new program that provides licenses of Tableau Desktop Professional to students to enhance their studies and gain new skills. Tableau Academic Programs also include the Tableau for Teaching initiative, which offers educators software for their classrooms. Students should visit http://www.tableausoftware.com/academic/students to obtain a free product code and will be asked for information to verify their student status at an accredited institution.

The idea of graduating high school is supposed to be exciting: the beginning of a brand new life filled with experience and opportunity. But, when I thought about graduating from high school, I wasn't excited; I was terrified. While my friends were talking about what colleges they wanted to apply to and their plans for life after high school, I sat in silence, wondering what I would do.

You see, I wasn't a great student. I struggled through my first two years, scoring a 13 on my first ACT test. I didn't think I'd get into any college, let alone the college of my dreams; I was convinced I'd spend the rest of my life working for minimum wage. I wanted so much more for myself, but it seemed like that was my only option…until everything changed.

On the first day of classes in my junior year, the principal explained to us that school would no longer be as it once was: our teachers would "flip" the way that they taught. Instead of sitting in class delivering a lecture, our teachers recorded those lectures and asked us to view them for homework. Then during class, we instead worked on what used to be our homework before the videos-the math problems, the group projects, the labs, etc.

Under this new format, I was able to ask questions as soon as I got stuck. And I didn't have to just ask my teacher- I could now ask someone else in the class, too. Suddenly, everything started to make sense. Rather than getting stuck on a problem at home and giving up when it became too difficult, someone in class was able to show me what I was doing wrong, so I could figure out the answer and master the topic.

This flipped teaching model allowed me to learn at my own pace and made a huge impact on my education. While watching my teacher's lectures, if I didn't understand something or needed to review for a test, I could simply rewind the video and watch it again. Almost overnight, my grades went from B's and B-'s- to all A's. I began to understand complex problems that I never before grasped.

When I took the ACTs a second time after my junior year, I ended up scoring a 22 on the test! I was thrilled, and couldn't believe how much I improved. With my new grades and ACT score, I realized that there were a lot of options for me beyond high school, and I would no longer have a limited future. I began looking at colleges and learning about academic scholarships.

I truly believe that the flipped classroom has changed my life, and opened many doors. This year has been a really exciting one for me: I have enjoyed thinking of what my education will bring in the next few years. I now have the potential to be anything I want to be, which, right now, involves accounting, business management, or health management.

Kylie McAuley is a 12th grade student at Clintondale High School, in Clinton Township, Mich.
From: http://www.eschoolnews.com/2013/02/15/how-a-flipped-classroom-flipped-a-students-perspective/2/

Mangahigh.com is one of the world's first games-based-learning sites, where students learn Mathematics via purpose-built casual games that balance fun and learning.

A great tool that puts an overlay on graphs, so you can manipulate data and make adjustments Jeff found using Geobra

http://www.emiratesfoundation.ae/%28S%28thmexm45lc1iwc2hztjaile5%29%29/English/tnssc.aspx

The Emirates Foundation is delighted to announce "Think Science Competition" for the academic year 2012/2013, in partnership with Ministry of Education and Abu Dhabi Education Council and supported by Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA), and Siemens LLC.
What is "Think Science Competition" ?

Think Science Competition is a science competition that aims at engaging teams of up to three talented youth from all Emirates
The Competition is to design, develop, and build science based innovations, and to apply science skills in solving practical problems
Eager and gifted youth from across the UAE are invited to participate with their innovations. Distinguished participants will be rewarded and named winners of the Think Science Competition.
Youth aged 15 to 24 from public/private schools and universities from across the UAE are invited to apply for the Competition.
Participants will showcase their projects at Think Science Exhibition in April 2013
Winners announcement will be in a ceremony in April 2013
Deadline for proposal submission and online registration is November 12, 2012.