Deliberately ambiguous. The general tone when we do this in class becomes trying to find a reason one doesn't belong that is different from everyone else's reason. Some kids really like that type of thinking, I have a few students who voluntarily participate more in a 3-minute WODB than the rest of class combined.
Excellent post Dylan! I really like doing one type of routine or puzzle for a few weeks, then moving on to something new. Some you haven't mentioned that I like are the routine "Same & Different" and Yohaku puzzles from Mike Jacobs.
And of course, I heartily agree with your premise that we can't just have a week of awesome math to start the year; far better to sprinkle it throughout. Thanks for sharing!
Do you know about "Taxicab numbers"? It's a story that even kids can understand and appreciate, and you can then expand into the incredible story of Ramanujan. Also, as a class activity, you can try to search by hand to find the two pairs of cubes.
Yup - Ramanujan is one of the mathematicians I share with students. I've never done it as a class activity though, that sounds fun. Maybe I'll pair it with my circles unit when we spend a bit of time working on exponents.
"I wish we had a repository of short, interesting stories about math for teachers to draw from. Humans love stories, and stories should play a role in math class."
They are now of a certain vintage but Howard Eves wrote several books titled "Mathematical Circles" that were exactly that, small anecdotes about mathematics & mathematicians. They are very clearly of their time but would form a place to build from. https://bookstore.ams.org/view?ProductCode=SPEC/38 George Simmons also published a book "Calculus Gems" that focuses on higher mathematics https://bookstore.ams.org/spec-95
Quanta magazine’s Hyperjumps was a great hit in my class the last month.
Wait so which one doesn't belong? Or is this deliberately ambiguous to prompt students to justify different answers?
Deliberately ambiguous. The general tone when we do this in class becomes trying to find a reason one doesn't belong that is different from everyone else's reason. Some kids really like that type of thinking, I have a few students who voluntarily participate more in a 3-minute WODB than the rest of class combined.
Excellent post Dylan! I really like doing one type of routine or puzzle for a few weeks, then moving on to something new. Some you haven't mentioned that I like are the routine "Same & Different" and Yohaku puzzles from Mike Jacobs.
And of course, I heartily agree with your premise that we can't just have a week of awesome math to start the year; far better to sprinkle it throughout. Thanks for sharing!
Yup -- there are so many great routines and puzzles out there!
Do you know about "Taxicab numbers"? It's a story that even kids can understand and appreciate, and you can then expand into the incredible story of Ramanujan. Also, as a class activity, you can try to search by hand to find the two pairs of cubes.
Yup - Ramanujan is one of the mathematicians I share with students. I've never done it as a class activity though, that sounds fun. Maybe I'll pair it with my circles unit when we spend a bit of time working on exponents.
"I wish we had a repository of short, interesting stories about math for teachers to draw from. Humans love stories, and stories should play a role in math class."
They are now of a certain vintage but Howard Eves wrote several books titled "Mathematical Circles" that were exactly that, small anecdotes about mathematics & mathematicians. They are very clearly of their time but would form a place to build from. https://bookstore.ams.org/view?ProductCode=SPEC/38 George Simmons also published a book "Calculus Gems" that focuses on higher mathematics https://bookstore.ams.org/spec-95
I will check those out, thanks Cal!