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Articles, E-Mail and Web Links about Mathematics

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= Article or E-mail you'll find right here on MiddleWeb
= A good link on the topic we've checked out ourselves


Basic Math Resources
Math Projects and Specific Resources
Math-Specific Pedagogy

ASK ERIC Math Lesson Plans - Lots of well-documented lessons.

Writing Guidelines for Math -- We're told by teachers who know that many math folks will welcome the chance to examine this declaration of writing standards for written assignments in math. One teacher friend tells us: "As a math teacher who is often frustrated by the shoddy written work that I find in student notes or in handed-in assignments, I was very interested to read the benchmarks that someone took the time to think through. As always, our upfront work will pay off. Our students will be clearer about what exactly we want them to do. Equipped with that knowledge they might even meet our benchmarks!"

Creating a Supportive Math Classroom -- More and more students are becoming afraid to try new things in case they fail, and mathematics, with its emphasis on 'right' or 'wrong' answers, can potentially reinforce these fears, argues Margaret Taplin. She looks at ways mathematics teachers can help to create a secure, supportive classroom environment in which students learn not to fear failure and to value mistakes as opportunities to learn and grow.

Totally Tessellated -- This site is recommended by one of our teacher subscribers, known to us only as "Mary." She writes: "The Totally Tessellated Site is great. It features Escher's work and has great animations for students to view concerning the slide, flips, and turns involved in tessellation. My students in 5th and 6th grade enjoyed exploring the site for ideas when they were creating their tessellations for math class. It also has links to a tessellated art contest for students of all ages." We loved it too!

Algebra One in the Middle Grades -- Use activities at the ExploreMath website to help middle graders get a firm grasp of alegbraic principles. The ideas here follow NCTM recommendations for middle school -- a dynamic exploration of five different representations of algebraic relationships: algebraic formula, table of values, graph, concrete or pictorial representation, and verbal description. Math teachers will find many great tools and ideas at this site. Visit the homepage.

Math in the Middle --Developed with federal and state support, Math in the Middle uses videotapes and interactive media to engage students in math problem-solving. The integrated approach draws on music, oceans, design, motion, and nature to explore connections between pre-algebra concepts and music, science, art, and social studies.

Middle School Teachers' Place - Working with Math Standards -- Developed for math teachers by Drexel University. Includes lesson plans -- many aligned with NCTM standards. Many related resources for math teachers.

MathNerds -- Created by the Center for Advancement of Teaching, Xavier University, this site allows students to "ask the expert" questions about math that may even have the teacher stumped. The Archive of past questions is searchable by keyword, date, and category. A collection of mind-boggling problems, contributed by users, can be found in the Best of the MathNerds section. (Education World)

MathCove -- Education World calls this site by a Chattanooga math professor a "math teacher's dream." The site uses interactive graphics to teach some challenging mathematical concepts -- including graph theory, transformations, and geometry.

Integrated Math/Science Lessons -- College professor's blended lessons for the middle grades. See, for example, the "Animal Compound."

Figure This! -- Middle school math challenges for families. Developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and other organizations, this site aims to make mathematics part of the everyday learning process outside of school. It targets parents of middle school-age children and provides them with a variety of math challenges to work on with their children.

Do Math! --And you can do anything! That's the central message of this new site, developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. It includes age-specific mathematical activities that children can do with their families and on their own. When we visited, the Gr. 6-8 page included 10 problems. The answers are available but they aren't given up easily!

Digital Dozen in Math and Science -- We regularly steal new links from the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse's monthly Digital Dozen list. If you want to cut out the middle-man, you can go directly to the ENC list each month. MiddleWeb was a featured site for January 1999!

Showcase of Math and Science Projects - This page links to summary descriptions of each curriculum program presented at the Mid-Atlantic Curriculum Showcase Conference (July 1998). There are summaries for 15 mathematics curriculum programs and 25 science curriculum programs that were developed with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Many of these programs are now available as complete and published curricula.

Professor Freedman's Math Help -- A mixture of sound, humour, color, animation and graphics with lots of help for the "math anxious" student. Its aim is to give students a self-directed and entertaining way to learn basic math and algebra. Developed for community college students, but teachers will find useful information about the needs of basic math students of all ages.

Math Resources for Teachers -- An information-rich page of resources and links compiled by the math department at Florida State University. Information about math contests, textbooks and remedial math programs and more.

Algebra Online -- Offers free tutoring and advice to students, parents, and educators looking for help with algebra and other sticky mathmatics assignments. Students are expected to show their specific problem, the work they've done, and to ask specific questions. "Tutors will not do your homework for you. Instead, they will help you to understand what you are doing."

The Mathematics Archives - This comprehensive homepage compiles Internet sites that contain significant collections of K-12 mathematics materials. Categories include lesson plans, schools with significant math projects, and mathematics software resources.

Interdisciplinary Lesson Plans in Math and Science -- These lesson plans were designed by teachers to teach standard concepts in math and science in new ways. The lessons, which include capsule descriptions that make browsing quick and easy, were developed as part of an effort to encourage more girls to pursue math and science careers. Definitely worth a look.

Top-Rated Math and Science Sites -- Each month the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse selects a dozen useful math and science sites for teachers and students. Visit the archives here.

Mega-Mathematics Site -- A middle school math teacher writes: "There's really neat stuff herel I loved the "Hotel Infinity" (which is just about right for grade 8) and the map-coloring problems as well as "Unusual School." It would make a good supplement to the drill and practice part of the program, and you could some creative art and writing related to these topics too!"

Improving Mathematics in Middle School -- University of Pittsburgh professor Edward Silver analyzes data from the recent international testing in math and science and describes important issues for American principals and teachers in his paper, "Improving Mathematics in Middle School: Lessons from TIMSS and Related Research." Also see related materials on the Department of Education website. Also see "Attaining Excellence Through TIMSS," a webpage at the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse.

A Math Website for Middle School Students -- Offers several dozen web links.

College Preparatory Mathematics -- The CPM mathematics program combines traditional mathematics education with a more contemporary focus on complex problem-solving. Studied by more than a million students in California. The CPM homepages explain the program. Favored by some middle school teachers of algebra.

Math-on-Line -- Offers model lessons from a standards perspective.

The Math/Science Clearinghouse - The Eisenhower National Clearinghouse maintains a "treasure trove" of mathematics and science resources. Check out the Clearinghouse's "Digital Dozen," a monthly selection of useful math and science web sites (which are also archived). The Clearinghouse works in concert with ten regional Consortia organizations. For a report on how the regional Consortia work with local school systems, click here. For information about teachers' professional development needs, see this report.

The Guide to Math & Science Reform - A fully searchable database that includes concise entries on more than 1,200 projects, resources, and organization involved in K-12 math and science education improvement in the U.S. Funded by the Annenberg/CPB Math and Science Project. The Guide's "SAMI" feature includes opportunities for students to e-mail questions to science experts.

Math and Science Initiatives -- A free curriculum resource originally developed for rural math and science teachers but available to all.

The Explorer - Self-description: "A collection of educational resources (instructional software, lab activities, lesson plans, student created materials) for K-12 mathematics and science education." Well-organized subject area outlines, many of which include Acrobat or Claris downloads.

Ask Dr. Math - Teachers and their students can ask questions about middle school math.

Cornell Math Gateway - Rich resources and links for mathematics.

The Geometry Center - This is a great site and a very large one. Everything to do with Geometry and geometrical structures. This site is updated regularly and contains a lot of very useful material for almost all teachers at any level. There are interactive maths resources, some good Java applications, plenty of software to download as well as multimedia documents.

The HUB -- Resources for math and science education from regional centers across New England. Supported by TERC.

Mathematics Archives -- K-12 Internet resources for mathematics teachers and students from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

Interactive Mathematics Online -- At this site, mathematics ideas are explained clearly, with examples. Choose geometry, algebra, chaos, and trigonometry.

Bringing Mathematics to Life focuses on how K-12 math teachers are using NCTM standards to create lessons that emphasize problem solving, mathematical reasoning, and real-world applications. The article also includes interviews with leaders in the field. (ASCD article.)

A Great Middle School Math Game -- "Early in each school year," writes middle grades math teacher Marie Appleby, "I want my students to examine the methods they use to approach problem solving. The Petals Around the Rose problem confronts students with a lot of data and an answer, but no formal question and no explicit conditions of the problem." This lesson plan (at the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse site) includes a colorful "how-to" display. Appleby teaches at South Hadley (MA) Middle School.

Algebra Tutor -- This site, developed by a middle school math teacher and researcher, helps students translate word problems into algebraic expressions. Supported by the National Science Foundation and the Spencer Foundation, "Miss Lindquist : The Tutor" uses a mastery learning approach to pace students through five levels of problems. The downloadable software is currently available only for Macintosh. A Windows version is promised soon.

Middle Grades Geometry Lab -- This lesson at CPB/Annenberg's Teacher Lab addresses the new NCTM Standard 3: Geometry and Spatial Sense. This lab divides activities into two broad categories. Activities about shape center on identifying properties of various shapes and measuring their dimensions. Activities about space focus on moving objects-or yourself-around in your imagination, and visualizing how things will look. Includes a discussion aobut why geometry is important in real life. Spans grades K-8.

Mr. Pitonyak's Pyramid Puzzle -- This site features an interdisciplinary Web-based project designed for middle school math students to determine how much it would cost to build an Egyptian pyramid today. (Blue Web'n)

Art in Mathematics -- This resource guide at the Apple Learning Exchange describes the many connections between art and math and offers some excellent sites for further exploration of fractals, the Golden Ratio and much more. Great opportunity for integrated lessons.

A Math/Science Inquiry Project -- How might inquiry look in a real classroom? In this activity, science and math concepts are "rolled together" through a problem-solving activity with toy cars. Students are given a question that gives the rationale for the investigation. The students are expected to first decide how to investigate the question, then design the experiment themselves, ask for any equipment they may need, collect the data they consider relevant, and, finally, present their results. This is decidedly not guided discovery but open inquiry! (Lesson plan at Eisenhower National Clearinghouse site.)

Riverdeep Interactive Learning -- This commercial site promotes science and math materials developed by the Riverdeep company. Some materials are provided free at the site, and the interactive lessons are impressive. See, for example, the lessons associated with the problem of imported species without natural enemies -- "population ecology."

Math in a Basket -- In another life, acclaimed North Carolina basketmaker Billie Ruth Sudduth spent almost 20 years as a school psychologist. Her interest in mathematics and her work with students who were gifted, learning disabled, and educationally and emotionally handicapped inspired her to develop her "Math in a Basket" program, which uses basketmaking to teach math concepts, including Fibonacci's Nature Sequence and the Golden Mean.

Computer Games and Mathematic Empowerment -- Popular culture offers little outside-of-school support for children's mathematical learning. Computer games are a potential exception, say researchers involved in a math equity project supported by the National Science Foundation. "Through the Glass Wall: Computer Games for Mathematical Empowerment" includes a collection of research papers, as well as game descriptions and reviews.

Probability Central -- This game-oriented site simply and methodically explains the theory of probability and allows users to apply what they've learned. Excellent. Includes a downloadable version that teachers can use off-line (if you have Windows, alas). Includes a poker game where students can experiment with what they've learned. This is a separate area and requires a free password to enter.

What Is Pi? -- A math professor offers Middle-L listserv members a simple lesson that allows students to explore the meaning of Pi.

Mrs. Glosser's Math Goodies -- Interactive math lessons that teach mathematical concepts with a problem-solving approach. The lessons can be used on- or off-line but require a web browser. The site was commercial but all materials are now available at no charge. See for example "Perimeter of Polygons."

School Bus Geometry -- A colorful variation on the "taxicab geometry" lesson favored by many math teachers. Students learn some practical geometry and a little algebra too. Self-paced.

Geometry Problem of the Week -- A fun project from Swathmore College, with student hints, teacher help, monthly projects, and awards. Several hundred students participate each week.

Palindromic Numbers --Visitors with Java-savy browsers are welcome to try out a myriad of puzzles related to Palindromic Triangulars and Circular Primes -- to name two.

Home Improvement: Remodelling Mathematically -- How to do a project that gets kids involved mathematically in remodeling a room in their own house.

Delivering Whole Math: Connecting the Curriculum to the Learner - A conversation about the Chicago Bulls leads a teacher to this data analysis activity involving the soda machine in the teachers' lounge. Great lesson idea richly described.

Measure 4 Measure -- A collection of math-oriented interactive sites on the Internet. "A fun site to integrate into your math and science classes," says BlueWebN. Emphasis on calculators, conversions, other sites related to measurement. Nicely done by media specialist.

College Preparatory Mathematics -- The CPM mathematics program combines traditional mathematics education with a more contemporary focus on complex problem-solving. Studied by more than a million students in California. The CPM homepages explain the program.

Getting Girls Interested in Math and Computers -- Clubs, lesson plans, ideas.

Graphing Calculators -- This 1991 Education Week story described teachers' enthusiasm for teaching math with graphing calculators.

Let's Have a Field Day! -- In this WebQuest, sixth grade students are asked to plan a field day for their class. Some of the integrated skills include using an almanac to assist in decision making, using and interpreting weather sources, and reading and drawing maps. Well-documented, with some evaluation and connection to NCTM standards. Takes 2-4 weeks.

Project SkyMath -- This middle school mathematics site uses real-time weather data to promote the teaching and learning of significant mathematics, consistent with NCTM standards. Includes 15 classroom activities and connections to science standards for integrated teaching.

Computational Methods in Elementary Geometry -- Materials developed at the Geometry Center by pre- and in-service geometry teachers. Projects for teachers and students (grades 7-12) offer a variety of topics in geometry, including symmetry, patterns, the Golden Ratio.

Rainbow Lab -- How are rainbows formed? Why do they only occur when the sun is behind the observer? If the sun is low on the horizon, at what angle in the sky should we expect to see
a rainbow? Students learn math and calculus by studying how rainbows are formed.

The Mathematics of Cartography -- Combines geography and mathematics through its expoloration of the history and mathematical concepts behind maps.

Mathematics Contests - A list compiled by a middle school teacher and posted on Middle-L.

The M&M math project -- Begun by a teacher in California this project allows students to contribute their own M&Ms research to a national database, then plot (and eat) the data. An adaptable idea, even when the initial project has been completed.

Teachers Talk About Graphing - Ideas from Internet e-mail.

Pop Clock - Students can explore population growth at this census-related site. This link takes you to a lesson plan for social studies and mathematics.

The Mathematics of Cartography - History of mapmaking and lesson plans. Teacher notes.

Mega-Math - Fun math lessons for kids from Los Alamos Labs. Selected by Electronic Learning magazine as a notable site. Topic: "Untangling the Mathematics of Knots."

Fractals -- A weird, beautiful fractals unit for elementary and middle school students.
Excellent.

"Mathematics in the Middle Grades" -- This paper by Judith T. Sowder, subtitled "Linking Research and Practice," was presented at the National Conference on Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment in the Middle Grades in July 2000. "During their years in the middle school, many students become turned off to mathematics," Dr. Sowder begins. "I won't speculate here on the many reasons this turning away happens, but, rather, I will discuss some of what we know about mathematics in the middle school that affects the learning process." Dr. Sowder uses several math problems to illustrate her points.

Bringing Mathematics to Life -- This article in ASCD's "Curriculum Update" focuses on how K-12 math teachers are using NCTM standards to create lessons that emphasize problem solving, mathematical reasoning, and real-world applications. The article includes interviews with leaders in the field of mathematics education. See especially this article about a sixth grade teacher who uses a standards-based curriculum to enliven math for his students.

Ideas about math journals -- It's do-able, teachers say. One suggests a useful book.

Early algebra may open door to later math success (from e-mail)

The Use of Calculators Gets at the Heart of Good Teaching -- "I think that the issue of calculators goes way beyond the idea that kids can or cannot do basic skills. This issue gets at the heart of educational reform and fundamentals of good teaching," says a middle school math teacher.

Classroom Assessment in Mathematics -- One teacher shares some of her practice.

Helping Teachers Implement Best Practice Mathematics

Another Myth About Math -- New ideas for teaching math will not go away. Here's why.

Ten Roles for Math Teachers

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