Education
http://teachertech.rice.edu/Lessons/
TeacherTECH is the teacher-training component of GirlTECH, a program of Center for Excellence and Equity in Education (CEEE) at Rice University. The project focuses on providing technology training and exploring "innovative teaching strategies that impact equity in the classroom." TeacherTECH offers lesson plans designed by teachers in a way that is intended to "take full advantage of Internet resources and to teach mathematics and science concepts in new and exciting ways." From this website, visitors can select lessons by the year they were developed (going back to 1995) or search on a particular topic or string of words. The lesson ideas are described along with links to additional resources. The lesson descriptions include related graphs, data tables, as well as suggested ways to extend the activity or integrate technology. [VF]
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/mathematics.html
These lesson ideas from the New York Times offer suggestions for ways to draw on real world issues and statistics to develop lessons in mathematics. For example, in one lesson "students convert statistics about gun injuries into visual presentations, then use these as the basis for a poster campaign to teach children about the dangers of guns in home" while another lesson idea involves designing brochures that are intended to explain specific mathematical concepts to a popular audience. Each lesson idea includes a recommended grade level, subject areas covered, lesson objectives, resources/materials needed, a description of the activities along with handouts, further questions for discussion, assessment, key vocabulary terms, and some ways to extend the activities and relate them to other disciplines, such as social studies or journalism. Links to related Times articles and related online resources provide an interactive aspect to each of the lesson entries. [VF]
http://www.visualfractions.com/
Visual Fractions is "a tutorial that offers instruction and practice in identifying, renaming, and operating on fractions" and was created by Richard E. Rand. The website reviews examples of fractions, which are modeled with number lines or circles. Throughout the website are instructions to follow, encouraging students to try a few activities on their own. For a more light-hearted approach, Rand has a game that involves using fractions to help Grammy find Grampy and to make treats for Grampy. The software programs used to create the line and circle fractions, Fraction Modeler and Fraction Maker, are available for purchase and described on this website. [VF]
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mobius/flip/index.html
The Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction, at the Maricopa Community Colleges in Arizona, hosts this website on coin flipping. The Flip Site has been keeping track of the coins flipped by the cyber-character, Mr. Flipper, since midnight on January 1, 2004. They have even posted a graphic image of Mr. Flipper, so visitors can see the flips "live." The results from the coin flips are kept in the FlipParade section, where visitors can watch the series of flips completed thus far. The database they are creating is intended to provide "a number of ways to see some neat things about random processes." To help visitors engage in some of these neat things, they provide a query tool that will analyze the number of heads or tails that appear in a row and suggest ways to set up experiments to look at the frequency distribution of coin flips. A web discussion board allows visitors to share ideas or ask questions, which Dr. FlipMiester, the "resident expert on coin flips," will answer. [VF]
http://ccins.camosun.bc.ca/~jbritton/jbsymteslk.htm
This website provides 30 suggested activities in Symmetry and Tessellations using resources available across the World Wide Web. The author, Jill Britton, has complied this collection of links to coordinate with the chapters and activities from her publication, "Investigating Patterns: Symmetry and Tessellations" (Grades 5-8). The activities begin with "What is Mathematics?" and move on to cover topics such as Pythagoras´ observations of music, patterns on Ukrainian Easter eggs, and tessellating art. She provides a short comment on each of the websites and the links are arranged by activity topic. Links at the bottom of the website will take visitors to other collections of links relating to more pattern-related activities. [VF]
http://www.math-kitecture.com/
Math-Kitecture, designed by Charles Bender, "is about using Architecture to do Math (and vice versa)." The author provides suggested activities that engage students in doing real-life architecture while learning estimation, measuring skills, proportion, and ratios. The main activity is for students to hand-draft a floor plan of their classroom to scale and then use software to create a computer-aided design (CAD) version, which can then be submitted and added to the online gallery. To assist students in the process, Bender has posted examples of floor plans, guidelines for creating scale drawings, and instructions on how to use computer software such as AppleWorks (ClarisWorks) or MS Powerpoint to create the computer version of the drawing. Also posted is a large collection of links to other web resources on architecture and mathematics. Additional Math-Kitecture "Architivities" include finding geometric shapes in buildings and structures (both on the computer and off), designing a dream bedroom, and exploring a 3-D model of a Frank Lloyd Wright house to estimate volume and surface area. Also highlighted are the performance standards for middle school mathematics and core curriculum for grades seven and eight that are met through these activities. Teachers are invited to send in additions to the section on Teacher's Notes, which posts lesson plans, ideas, and reviews sent in by teachers. [VF]
The Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement, or SMILE program, is a project of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Center and is funded by a grant from the Lucent Technologies Foundation. The program is "designed to enhance the elementary and high school learning of Science and Mathematics through the use of the phenomenological approach." On this website, the project posts the lesson plans developed by teacher participants at its summer sessions held between 1986 and 1997. The lessons, available free online, are also available in print or CD for purchase and include a list of the materials needed, suggested activities and expected outcomes. The Mathematics section includes lessons on Geometry and Measurement, Patterns and Logic, Probability and Statistics, Recreational and Creative Math, Practical and Applied Math, Graphs and Visuals, Algebra and Trigonometry, and Arithmetic. Submissions from participants after 1997 are less detailed, offering a brief single concept lesson or idea. More recent additions are posted in the Contributed Lessons section, which welcomes guest contributions from educators, parents and others interested in contributing concept lessons which use the phenomenological approach to learning. Visitors may also find some helpful resources in the Web-based resources section. Also posted are class notes from courses offered through the SMILE teacher training program. [VF]
http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/education/projects/webquests/bridge/
This WebQuest was created by preservice teachers in the Education Department at University of Richmond as part of a course on integrating technology across the curriculum. The website is intended to serve as a resource for anyone interested in using the WebQuest model (See Scout Report on Math, Engineering and Technology, September 10, 2004) to teach with the web. This particular WebQuest offers an approach to using the Web to learn about bridge building. The Process section offers some helpful suggestions, websites, and worksheets to achieve the task. Guidelines used in evaluation of student work is also posted, along with a glossary of some engineering terminology. [VF]
