October 15, 2010

Mixing play with learning math is so much more effective for my kids. So, here are some great ideas on how to take the “boring” out of learning math and make it an Adventure:

A Map -

Before setting out on a math adventure, first you’ll need some idea of how to get where you’re going:

I really like Denise’s idea and think it’s a great homeschool group or co-op activity:

Denise presents Alexandria Jones and the Mathematical Carnival posted at Let’s Play Math!, saying, “Although Alex and Leon are fictional characters, their adventure this month is based on a real Math Carnival. I put an ad (much like Alex’s blurb above) into our homeschool group newsletter. Two months later, we had a fun afternoon of math games, puzzles, and “mathemagic” tricks.”

Try drawing this cute ‘Gallon Man’ as a guide next time you teach unit conversions.  Rebecca Zook presents Gallon man to the rescue! posted at Math Tutoring Online.

Supplies -

When you need resources for your adventure:

Peter Rowlett presents Web resources for a 14 year old girl struggling with maths & confidence posted at Travels in a Mathematical World, saying, “I was asked for web resources for a 14 year old girl who is struggling with fractions and generally with maths confidence. So I asked Twitter. Here are the six resources people recommended.”

Maria Miller presents Resources for multiplication tables posted at Homeschool Math Blog.

The Journey

Enjoy the day-to-day math and learning goes so much better:

John Golden presents Playing Math posted at Math Hombre, saying, “About playing in math instruction, including a physical game for multiplication and volume and a pentagonal tessellation.”

Mimi Yang presents No more p’s and q’s! posted at I Hope This Old Train Breaks Down…, saying, “A different way to present laws of deduction.”

Getting Lost

Sometimes math gets pretty confusing:

John Chase presents Do Irrational Roots Come in Pairs? (Part 1) « Random Walks posted at Random Walks, saying, “I made a series of posts about irrational roots of polynomials, addressing the misconception that irrational roots of polynomials come in pairs. Follow-up posts: Part 2 & Part 3.

John Cook presents Math Fun Facts for iPhone along with Variations on factorial! posted at The Endeavour.

Treasure

And the best math treasure is the child who ‘gets it’ and enjoys math while learning:

Becky Johnston presents On Prima Donnas and Rutabagas, and Fear, where her 4-year-old son is excited about the advanced math topics in “The Number Devil”, posted at Wide Open Campus.

Or you can use math in a quest for an actual treasure – the lottery:  Guillermo P. Bautista Jr. presents Using Mathematics to Win the Lottery posted at Mathematics and Multimedia .

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