MATH TOOLS NEWSLETTER - October 26, 2010 - No. 92 ***Math Forum Online Course Moving Students from Arithmetic to Algebra...one step at a time http://mathforum.org/pd/movingstudents/ November 4 - December 15 Registration closes at 5 pm Eastern Time on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. ***Make It Real Learning (MIRL) http://www.makeitreallearning.com/welcome_math_forum The Math Forum @ Drexel and Make It Real Learning (MIRL) have teamed up to provide you a discount on the engaging math activities in The Make It Real Learning Activity Library, Volume I. Now you can answer the student question, "When am I ever going to use this?" ***eInstruction Contest -- submission deadline November 2! http://mathforum.org/pd/contest.html Enter eInstruction's Global Classroom Makeover Video Contest to win a Math Forum Problems of the Week School Membership and three (3) registrations to participate in our online course, PoW Class Membership: Resources & Strategies for Effective Implementation--a value of $1,946! This is just one of the prizes offered by eInstruction to winners of their Interactive Classroom Makeover Video Contest. Deadline is Tuesday, November 2, 2010, at noon Eastern Time. Finalists for each grade category will be announced on November 9, 2010. The winner for each grade category will be announced on or about December 9, 2010. \|/ As you browse the catalog, please take a moment to rate a resource, comment on it, review it -- join an existing conversation, or start a new discussion! ***FEATURED DISCUSSION CalcRef - free Android Calculus app http://mathforum.org/mathtools/discuss.html?&do=m&thread=_____dev-90 jeanhsu writes, "My husband and I just launched a free Calculus study guide app.... Any feedback/comments are very welcome." ***FEATURED TECHNOLOGY POW Technology PoW: Traffic Jam http://mathforum.org/mathtools/tpow/17230/ Suzanne Alejandre There are eleven stepping stones and ten people. On the five lefthand stones, facing the center, stand five of the people. The other five people stand on the five righthand stones, also facing the center. The center stone is not occupied. Find the fewest number of moves for the ten people to end up on the opposite side from where they started. A link to a Java applet is provided for students to try the idea with fewer people. NOTE: A free login is required. Sign up using the link on the login page, or use your existing KenKen or Problems of the Week login. ***FEATURED TOOL Tool: Unitizing with Pattern Blocks http://mathforum.org/mathtools/tool/95710/ Conceptua Math Teachers work with students using this tool to help them develop fraction sense by arranging pattern blocks to explore unitizing. This tool helps students to first identify the whole and then the fractional amounts of each color represented in a given design created using pattern blocks. ***FEATURED TOOL Tool: Ordering on a Number Line http://mathforum.org/mathtools/tool/95709/ Conceptua Math Teachers can use this tool to help students build conceptual understanding of the value of fractions by placing numbers, visual models, and decimals on a number line. Strategies such as using benchmark numbers, linking fractions to decimals and adding tick marks to the number line help students compare and order fractions with and without common denominators. Students learn that every fraction and decimal describes a specific value. ***FEATURED TOOL Tool: Correlation / Regression http://mathforum.org/mathtools/tool/3516/ Bob Hall and Arlen Strader Correlation and Regression offers a series of linked workspaces in which the student can enter data directly into a grided scatterplot complete with user controlled scaling of the X and Y axes. Points placed on the scatterplot are automatically entered into a deviation-score summary table (separate applet) and values from the summary table are passed to a formulas applet that displays computations for means, standard deviations, covariance, correlation, slope, and intercept values. ***FEATURED TOOL Tool: Area and Perimeter - PDA version http://mathforum.org/mathtools/tool/99227/ BCC/Netmedia This activity is designed to support the understanding of perimeter and area, and to run on PDAs. ***FEATURED TOOL Tool: Median and Quartiles http://mathforum.org/mathtools/tool/98793/ Duncan Keith Investigate averages with this height graph: line the people up by height, mark the quartiles, and use the yellow boxes to read off the heights for lower and upper quartiles, and the median. ***FEATURED TOOL Tool: Higher or Lower? http://mathforum.org/mathtools/tool/98071/ Duncan Keith Use your knowledge of probability to bet on whether the next card is higher or lower than the last one. 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/ Twitter Feed http://mathforum.org/pd/twitter.html \`. .--------------.___________) \ |//////////////|___________[ ] `--------------' ) ( '-' The Math Forum @ Drexel -- 26 October 2010