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In this activity, students conduct an investigation to determine the rate of change in the popping of microwave popcorn. Four volunteers will estimate the time in the popping process where the rate of change is at 5 chosen levels. Other students will collect data on number of pops during consecutive 5 second time periods and draw histograms. Students will understand the approximate normal curve for a real data set and the relationship between the rate of popping and the shape of the distribution. This activity also provides an opportunity for students to understand human errors in data collection because not everyone will have the same number of frequencies in the corresponding classes of their histograms.

In this activity, students conduct an investigation to determine the rate of change in the popping of microwave popcorn. Four volunteers will estimate the time in the popping process where the rate of change is at 5 chosen levels. Other students will collect data on number of pops during consecutive 5 second time periods and draw histograms. Students will understand the approximate normal curve for a real data set and the relationship between the rate of popping and the shape of the distribution. This activity also provides an opportunity for students to understand human errors in data collection because not everyone will have the same number of frequencies in the corresponding classes of their histograms.

The Plus teacher packages are designed to give teachers (and students) easy access to Plus content on a particular subject area. Most Plus articles go far beyond the explicit maths taught at school, while still being accessible to someone doing GCSE and A level maths. They put classroom maths in context by explaining the bigger picture - they explore applications in the real world, find maths in unusual places, and delve into mathematical history and philosophy. We therefore hope that our teacher packages provide an ideal resource for students working on projects and teachers wanting to offer their students a deeper insight into the world of maths.

Number booklet coverDuring April 2008 Brombacher and Associates ran a four-day workshop for FET College lecturers on the assessment and remediation of the pre-requisite knowledge and skills assumed to be necessary for students to be able to study Mathematical Literacy. The workshop, presented by Aarnout Brombacher and Marc North,was attended by one lecturer from each of the 50 FET Colleges. The workshop focussed on the use of pre-tests to determine the knowledge and skills that college students have at the start of the programme and on the teaching of the necessary knowledge and skills in those cases where the students do not have these. Click on the "read more" link below to access the pre-test and remediation materials developed for the workshop as well as the powerpoint slide shows that supported the teaching these could be used by college lecturers in their remediation efforts. Downloads: Handout (44 pages): Numbers (download) o Presentation: Order of operations (download) o Presentation: Percentage (download) o Presentation: Ratio (download) o Presentation: Proportion (download) o Presentation: Rate (download) Handout (40 pages): Patterns and Relationships (download) Handout (11 pages): Space, Shape and Orientation (download)

Great resource for Arnot www.brombacher.co.za for mathematical literacy. During April 2008 Brombacher and Associates ran a four-day workshop for FET College lecturers on the assessment and remediation of the pre-requisite knowledge and skills assumed to be necessary for students to be able to study Mathematical Literacy. The workshop was presented by Aarnout Brombacher and Marc North. It focussed on the use of pre-tests to determine the knowledge and skills that college students have at the start of the programme and on the teaching of the necessary knowledge and skills in those cases where the students do not have these.

There are plenty of calculator apps in Google Play, but IDEAL WebMath is different because it shows students how to solve a problem.  IDEAL WebMath can help students with addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, comparing fractions, ratios, proportions, place values, and rounding.

"Lesson McMaths Fast Food Challenge: This Lesson Covers both curriculum areas of Maths and Health including percentages, conversion & Calculations, Food tables, nutritional Value and Recommended Daily Intake. I did this series of lessons earlier in the year with my students and it was one of the best learning experiences we had as we learnt a great deal about nutrition and some pretty open ended maths strategies over the course of the week that it runs for. Students were really engaged learning about these 'fast' foods they eat regularly and the excessive amount of calories they consume if they are not selective when eating out at fast fast food venues. More so some of them were shocked at the amount of exercise required to burn off that Big Mac, Coke and Fries and really started to make the connection that 'fast food' was a 'slow slog' to burn off."

The objective of good math teaching should not be to "cover the curriculum" but to show students how to explore our fascinating and beautiful world through the lens of mathematics. We must change our focus in math education from a focus on a largely irrelevant and uninteresting set of learning objectives to a focus on making math relevant and engaging for students.

Students will investigate the field of architecture as a career choice, with specific research into the use of geometric shapes (polygons) in building design and construction. In the first part of the project the students will use a digital camera to record examples of the use of polygons in building design in their communities. They will present their findings to the class using a PowerPoint slide show. In the second they complete a drawing of a building as per the instructions in the Explain and Elaborate section

Being financially-savvy is crucial to making the kind of smart money decisions key to ensuring quality of life. Help your students get up to speed on this important life skill with regularly updated K-12 lessons and other resources in this special sponsored section.

New article published: Albanian students' motives for preferring certain real-life situations for learning mathematics"

Maths in Work has been designed to offer glimpses of the real world of work via video clips, to help students appreciate not only the relevance of mathematics but its importance in every day life. The clips feature the people who are actually 'doing the job' and explain some of the maths processes that they are involved with on a daily basis. There is a brief synopsis of each clip which identifies the maths topics covered, and all clips end with the simple question, "What mathematics would be involved in the work you have just watched?" The teacher is free to approach the viewing in whatever way seems appropriate to his/her circumstances.

Here is an exmaple of how students use powerpoint and slideshare to combine their class research project into a comprehensive report for comment by the peers and fans :-). I do wonder how they got everybody to reveal their weights...

"In previous posts, I have summed up my position on Khan Academy as follows: Khan Academy teaches only one part of mathematics-procedures-and that isn't the most important part. Writing about mathematics, developing a disposition for mathematical thinking, demonstrating a conceptual understanding of mathematical topics are all more important than procedures. That said, procedures are still important, and Khan Academy provides one venue where students can learn them. In the end, I think every young person should have an account there. Even if only one in a thousand or ten thousand benefit, that would be a terrific outcome. "

Place value in an extremely important concept that is taught as early as in kindergarten and as students learn about larger numbers, the concept of place value continues throughout the middle grades. Place value refers to the value of the digit based on its position. Place value is a concept that is difficult for young learners. Understanding place value fully requires many hands on experiences.

Students will learn about daylight. They will collect data on sunrise and sunset in the town or city where they live.  They will understand the data pattern and offer a hypothesis about  the reasons that the amount of daylight varies during the year.

"For use by students, a Frequency Distribution Table with Cumulative Frequency column. Frequency is entered using +/- buttons, cumulative frequency is entered manually and the tool shows whether the entry is correct (green) or not (red)."

he second event aims to finish the current draft of the Gr 10 ML textbook, in collaboration with interested educators and post-grad students. This Grade 10 Maths Lit textbook will be available for use in 2013 and beyond, and have its own website, be available via cellphone, on Mxit, as a PDF and in print. We are in serious negotiations with DBE to have it printed for all government schools next year.

Lesson plan idea: Using this infographic, the students can create a similar breakdown of costing for our South African scenario. And they can do a comparison of what it cost to study here and overseas. 

"Take your classroom into the real world with lessons that will deepen students' understanding and their desire for new knowledge as they actively encounter content in a more meaningful way!"