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LOG IN February 22, 2012 at 2pm Eastern US time: http://tinyurl.com/math20event During the event, John Mason will lead a conversation about multiplication as scaling, and answer questions about his books, projects and communities. All events in the Math Future weekly series: http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/events The recording will be at: http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/JohnMason Your time zone: http://bit.ly/wQYN1Y Event challenge! What good multiplication tasks about scaling do you know? Share links and thoughts! John writes about elastic multiplication: "It is often said that 'multiplication is repeated addition' when what is meant is that 'repeated addition is an instance of multiplication'. I have been developing some tasks which present 'scaling as multiplication' based around familiarity with elastic bands. Participants would benefit from having an elastic (rubber) band to hand which they have cut so as to make a strip; wider is better than thinner if you have a choice." About John Mason John Mason has been teaching mathematics ever since he was asked to tutor a fellow student when he was fifteen. In college he was at first unofficial tutor, then later an official tutor for mathematics students in the years behind him, while tutoring school students as well. After a BSc at Trinity College, Toronto in Mathematics, and an MSc at Massey College, Toronto, he went to Madison Wisconsin where he encountered Polya's film 'Let Us Teach Guessing', and completed a PhD in Combinatorial Geometry. The film released a style of teaching he had experienced at high school from his mathematics teacher Geoff Steel, and his teaching changed overnight. His first appointment was at the Open University, which involved among other things the design and implementation of the first mathematics summer school (5000 students over 11 weeks on three sites in parallel). He called upon his experience of being taught, to institute active-problem-solving sessions, w

Abstract: "Students' attitudes toward mathematics and its learning have been subject to numerous studies in the past six decades. These studies treat such attitudes as both desirable learning outcomes and correlates of mathematics achievement. Many Likert-type attitude scales have been devised to measure significant constructs underlying mathematics-related attitudes, such as confidence, anxiety, and utility of mathematics. The psychometric properties of these attitude scales may be culture and age dependent. As part of a research project called Singapore Mathematics Assessment and Pedagogy Project (SMAPP), an effort was made to devise and validate an attitude toward learning mathematics scale that can be used with lower secondary school students in Singapore. This paper explains the use of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to reduce an initial 57-item questionnaire to one with 24 items that cover these six dimensions: Checking solutions, Confidence, Enjoyment, Use of IT in mathematics learning, Multiple solutions, and Usefulness of mathematics. The data comprise responses from about 890 Secondary 1 (Grade 7) students in 2010, who took the 57-item questionnaire, and another 850 students who took the 24-item questionnaire in 2011. The nature of the final questionnaire is discussed. This effort contributes to the continual effort to devise validated attitude scales that are suitable for different cultures and student groups."

"This is a really good way of testing out practical measuring skills in Maths lessons. I always teach 'measuring' by incorporating a Harry Potter themed Potions lesson. Pupils follow potion recipes to create potions from the Harry Potter universe, e.g. Polyjuice Potion or Skele-gro. I have a mixture of powders (cornflour), plants (herbs) and potions (water with food colouring). I then have pipettes, a range of different containers with different scales for measuring liquids, scales for measuring the plants and powders, in addition to gloves for handling the 'poisonous' plants, a pestle and mortar for the plants and stopwatches for timing."

This is a useful sport themed maths resource about measuring and estimating decimals, scales and place value. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths

A maths resource for practising reading scales in kilograms and grams. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths

This is a superb maths number line resource. Choose the scale and then run calculations of counting on and counting back. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths

CK-12 Foundation's Basic Algebra, Volume 1 Of 2 FlexBook covers the following six chapters:Expressions, Equations, and Functions - covers the relationships among expressions, equations, and functions when variables are present. Also explored is how these ideas can be shown on graphs. Properties of Real Numbers - covers various forms that rational numbers can assume, including fractions, integers, and square roots. Also considered are different operations for manipulating rational numbers. Linear Equations - introduces students to methods of solving simple equations involving variables. Also covered are ratios, scale, and the percent equation. Graphing Linear Equations and Functions - provides students with a more in-depth understanding of equations by introducing coordinate plane graphing concepts such as intercepts and slope. Writing Linear Equations - focuses on writing various forms of equations based upon real-world data and already existing lines. Students will also learn about predicting data using a fitted line. Linear Inequalities and Absolute Value; An Introduction to Probability - covers operations of inequalities, including addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. These principles are then applied to absolute value and probability.

A site with a collection of maths videos designed to get students drawing graphs. Watch the motion of objects or values on scale in the videos and plot the numbers. The videos have the correct answers at the end.

LOGIN Wednesday February 15 at 3pm Eastern US time: http://tinyurl.com/math20event During the event, Dr. Keith Still of SaferCrowds.com will introduce his Crowd Sciences work and explain the relevance of mathematics in it: "If you don't do the maths, you could end up in court on a manslaughter charge!" All events in the Math Future weekly series: http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/events The recording will be at http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/CrowdSciences Pose questions and comments for Keith before the event Math Future wiki: http://mathfuture.wikispaces.com/message/list/CrowdSciences LinkedIn group: http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=33207&type=member&item=94871153&qid=b29a6dbc-6474-425f-865a-b319bd33dcb9 Email group: http://groups.google.com/group/mathfuture/browse_thread/thread/931328aab6d87b03 How to join Follow this link at the time of the event: http://tinyurl.com/math20event Wednesday, February 15 2012 we will meet online at noon Pacific, 3 pm Eastern time. WorldClock for your time zone. Click "OK" and "Accept" several times as your browser installs the software. When you see Session Log-In, enter your name and click the "Login" button If this is your first time, come a few minutes earlier to check out the technology. Crowd Modelling + Crowd Monitoring + Crowd Management = Safer Crowds Crowd Modelling is the scientific approach to the development of safe, robust, crowd management plans. This can be achieved without the need for expensive, complex, time consuming computer simulations. In simple terms Crowd Modelling is understanding how, where, when and why crowds arrive, move around and leave an events/venues. The majority of this can be accomplished using tried, tested and simple to apply methodologies. "Keith Still is what I term an intuitive mathematician. He is one of the most creative and original thinkers that I know. He adds drive and determination, as well as considerable intellectual power to any group of which h

Nice stuff - ideal to add to a lesson introducing standard form (scientific notation) - wish they'd written the numbers the conventional way round though!

Northwestern University scientists created a model to explore food web dynamics towards species conservation. "The goal of this project, funded by the National Science Foundation's Division of Mathematical Sciences, is to develop mathematical methods to study dynamical processes in complex networks. Although the specific application mentioned here may be useful in management of ecosystems, the mathematical foundation underlying the analysis is much more universal. The broad concept is innovative in the area of complex networks because it concludes that large-scale failures can be avoided by focusing on preventing the waves of failure that follow the initial event."

My Blog About Mathematics and Science as a PDF file on Scribd.com. Articles: Editing Equations on Web 2.0 Sites, Representing Scale in Mathematics, Nesin Mathematics Village in Turkey, A mathematician of prime numbers. A mathematician of topology. Flash game for teaching mathematics. From http://cmcallister.vox.com/

This is a great set of flash maths resources for your whiteboard. Topics include an interactive number square, fraction bars and a set of algebra scales. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths

A video from the Royal Observatory Greenwich explaining how maths are used in measurement in astronomy and cosmology.

Great site for having students calculate some proportions and develop proportional reasoning from a variety of contexts. Based in KY but can still connect to many students. 

Solving Equations with the SMART Board