Movie box office data that is current and very comprehensive. Several different trends are easy to track including exponential, and log functions. Great for using with students to create regression models, making predictions based on the models, checking the results and re-analyzing. Also, when a movie doesn't follow the predictions there are often easy to understand reasons for why the movies behave differently (a holiday weekend may cause the movie to gross more on a given weekend than predicted, etc.)

"Visualize your numbers, explore charts, and share insights with others. " Great data source. Students can explore data sets, identify different ways of representing data, as well as identify different characterisitics of data.

Enter your zip coade to see US census data and comparisons with neighboring zip codes. Great data site for data that is engaging to students, can be represented in multiple ways, and potential for predicting future trends.

Lots of data displayed in an interactive way. Great for use with an interactive white board. Easy for students to gather data, display, and report.

Geared toward developing good instructional strategies for entry level geo-science courses at the post-secondary setting, the suggestions can easily be applied to 6-12 setting and are just good instructional practices. Well organized and includes different perspectives and connected content. I thoroughly agree with the mathematical modeling discussion. It's worth reading

GeoGebraWiki is a free pool of teaching materials for the dynamic mathematics software GeoGebra. Everyone can contribute and upload materials! All contents of this pool may be used free of charge.

Pattern blocks are great tools for developing conceptual understanding. I hope to continue to see them used in classrooms, but the virtual kind can allow students to share their thinking with other students virtually. I like using screen capture, cut/paste, upload to a wiki, comment on characteristics/size/description of '1'/and sharing with students so that their thikning can be revisited from multiple venues (home, classroom, internet-broader audience).

Resources to find data on the internet

I love the Wolfram Alpha site, if it does ignite another math war, then I'm OK with it. I think what it means is that we have to ask students different questions, ask them better questions, make them create their own problems, interpret their answers, decide what methods are most efficient and why, but don't stop asking them questions just because some are going to use the available tools.

Does Understanding the Equal sign Matter? Examines several of the important concepts in algebra focusing on the concept of equality

Darren challenged us to identify topics of interest last month and I responded that I would love to share some algebraic reasoning information.

interweaving content and pedagogy in teaching and learning to teach knowing and using mathematics.pdf

"I'd also like to ask that someone else suggest another "theme" for us for the month of June and each of the months that follow. "

OK Darren, I'll take the challenge and suggest developing algebraic reasoning as a Research theme for June.

What do others think?