MATH TOOLS NEWSLETTER - NOVEMBER 6, 2004 - No. 20 After a year and a half, over five thousand of you have joined the Math Tools community, contributing just as many resources and discussion messages along the way. Thank you for everything that you bring to our work! We particularly appreciate how you've responded to existing posts. Beyond adding knowledge that way, we encourage you to facilitate discussions -- by clarifying, asking questions, or summarizing. And of course -- if you know folks who might find the discussion of particular interest, but who haven't registered for Math Tools, invite them to do so and enrich the conversation. ***FEATURED DISCUSSION Fractions, concept and calculations http://mathforum.org/mathtools/discuss.html?do=m&thread=_____round-110 Cynthia asks, "How do you teach conceptual understanding of fractions? What tools have you found to be effective, and likewise how do you teach computational fluency with fractions and what tools are effective?" ***FEATURED DISCUSSION Role of MathDrag'n program in education http://mathforum.org/mathtools/discuss.html?&do=m&thread=_____dev-24 Haertchen explains, "I have developed a rudimentary program that allows the user to manipulate algebra through drag-and-drop. I am more interested here in whether it would be a useful educational tool, and if so what it would be useful for." ***FEATURED DISCUSSION Mutually Exclusive and Complementary Events http://mathforum.org/mathtools/discuss.html?&do=m&thread=_____round-117 Tackweed writes, "I would appreciate any supplementary materials, approaches and/or experiences for incorporating the concepts of complementary and mutually exclusive events to independent events at the middle school level." ***FEATURED TOOL Tool: Baseball Multiplication emGames http://mathforum.org/mathtools/tool/15568/ A Flash game of multiplication. Click the dice to get the first "pitch." Multiply the numbers on the dice, and use the result to get a single, double, triple, or strike out, according to the chart. Aligned with the Everyday Mathematics curriculum. ***FEATURED TOOL Tool: Stretching Ruler Jeff Barrett http://mathforum.org/mathtools/tool/15561/ This set of activities introduces students to mathematical foundations of measurement, and especially to the concept of the unit of measurement. Students create their own rulers to measure different objects. ***FEATURED TOOL Tool: Color by Numbers Nathalie Sinclair http://mathforum.org/mathtools/activity/15564/ Students investigate patterns produced on a grid of numbers generated through addition and multiplication of the whole numbers. The focus is on elementary number theory concepts such as even/odd, factors, multiples, divisibility, and the commutativity of addition and multiplication. CHECK OUT THE MATH TOOLS SITE: Math Tools http://mathforum.org/mathtools/ Register http://mathforum.org/mathtools/register.html Discussions http://mathforum.org/mathtools/discuss.html Research Area http://mathforum.org/mathtools/research/ Developers Area http://mathforum.org/mathtools/developers/ Newsletter Archive http://mathforum.org/mathtools/newsletter/ \`. .--------------.___________) \ |//////////////|___________[ ] `--------------' ) ( '-' The Math Forum -- 6 November 2004