teachers learning math together
Sarah Lonberg-Lew of the Adult Numeracy Network and SABES joined us from Gloucester, MA to lead this meeting with me (honestly, I did very little). We explored a diagram that Play With Your Math calls factor graphs. They got the idea from Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension, by the mathematician and educator Matt Parker. (Check out Numberphile for some of his videos.)
The week before the meeting we sent out this teaser:
In April’s evening CAMI meeting, Audrey led us through an exploration of star polygons…at a safe distance.
Usha took advantage of the fact that we are all sitting in front of computers to lead us through a modeling exercise in Excel.
After some spreadsheet basics, Usha led us through a meeting in which worked in groups to think about modeling some aspect of the COVID19 outbreak.
Continue reading “Modeling the Coronavirus”For the COVID19 virus, pose 3 specific quantitative questions, the answers to which would be useful in your role as health commissioner. Try to consider questions that can be dealt with mathematically.
Annie Perkins is a middle school/high school math teacher in Minneapolis, MN and she has been sharing a daily math art challenge every day since the governor’s made the call for everyone to stay at home. As I write this, we are going on Day 19.
Continue reading “Math Art Challenges”Have you ever thought about why some fractions turn into decimal representations that go on and on, while others terminate?
Andrew started by describing two kinds of decimal representations of fractions:
Three very different visual solutions were shared in response to a problem about dividing 2-digit numbers.
This was our first online meeting (made necessary by the COVID-19 outbreak). It was a great distraction and made it possible for Adult Numeracy Network friends to join us from the Hudson Valley, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin. Our meetings for the next few months will almost certainly be online, so join us if you’re able.
The problem for this meeting came from Math with Bad Drawings and @mathsjem before that:
Continue reading “Dividing a 2-digit number by the sum of its digits”Nice little puzzle pic.twitter.com/qh7FCkcjLN
— Jo Morgan (@mathsjem) October 22, 2019
Ramon led the group into an investigation of a simple equation with many possible solutions.
Ramon Garcia brought a problem type called an Open Middle problem. He talked about how usually teachers give students problems that look like this:
1+2=?
There is one answer: 3. And you’re done. (It could be more challenging, but it would still have only one solution that makes the equation true.)
Continue reading “Open Middle equations”For the first evening meeting of 2020, Greg Fein led us through an exploration of the card game, Set.
The meeting began with Greg passing out a few decks of the game Set and giving time for all to explore the cards. Some of us were familiar with the game, but for others this was the first time seeing these cards. We then shared our observations of the cards in the deck.
Continue reading “The Game of Set”For November’s evening meeting, Eric led us through an interesting exploration of past and present methods of determining how many congressional seats to apportion to states of various populations.
The meeting began with the following warm up:
An adult education program is hiring 37 teachers to teach at 3 different sites. Each teacher can work at one site only.
Site A: 1500 students/year
Site B: 1000 students/year
Site C: 100 students/year
How many teachers should go to each site?
Continue reading “Apportionment Math!”Solange shared some card puzzles and tricks that she has been playing with. Our job was to figure out how they worked.
The first card “trick” (more of a puzzle, really) was from Marilyn Burns’ blog. It’s called the 1-10 card investigation.
