• Math Topics
• Initiatives
• Methodology
• Resources
• Projects
• Manipulatives
• Software
• Learning Support
• Standardized Test Prep
• Technology Integration
• Assisting Readers
• Professionalism
• Associations
• Journals
• News
• Professional Development
• Standards
• Educational Research
• CT4ME Papers

Are you confused by terms that educators use? The ASCD Lexicon of Learning might be what you need.

 

 

 

Math Resources

K-12 Supplementary Collections

Math Resources (Page 3 of 5): K-12 Supplementary Collections

 

Miscellaneous Math Collections

BrainPOP produces educational animated movies and is award winning.  K-12 movies address science, technology, health, math, and special topics, including online safety.  The online math movies include topics in algebra, geometry, data analysis/probability, problem solving, measurement, and numbers/operators.  There are homework help, puzzles, activities, prizes, and more for registered users.

Eduhound.com is a complete resource for K-12 in over 50 categories.  See the Education Plaza for resources specific to your state along with searchable database of suppliers, services and solutions targeted to individual states and districts.  Thousands of vendors are catalogued with products ranging from instructional software to handheld devices and printed materials.

FactMonster.com is an award winning site that features an atlas, almanac, dictionary, encyclopedia, and individualized homework help.  Students can get facts on a range of subjects including math, the world and news, U.S., science, sports, people, and more.  There are games and quizzes also.  Among press releases is the March 2001 recognition in the NCTM News Bulletin, WebBytes, which highlighted the site as a reference source.

The Internet Mathematics Library from The Math Forum at Drexel University contains math topics, math education topics, resources with subdivisions for elementary, middle school, high school, college, and research. Resources, for example, include educational materials, internet-based projects, organizations, publications, and software.

LearnAlberta.ca provides multimedia online resources for K-12 in several content areas, accessible for all learners.  Don't miss the use of audio, video, animations, and interactivity in the mathematics course materials.  Math 5 Live! and Spy Guys for grade 6 fully supports content included for those grades.  The Continuum is suitable for grades 8-12, depending on skill levels of learners.  Secondary learners will also benefit from the Applied Math Multimedia Resources and the interactive Mathematics Discovery Applets.  There are 26 resources that will engage a variety of learning styles. You can login as a guest.

Math Mnemonics from OnlineMathLearning.com contains math mnemonics that help students remember math conventions, algorithms, definitions, techniques, and formulas. These are categorized by pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry.  [Note Education World has additional math mnemonics.]

Math Power is a must see web site that provides information about basic math, algebra, study skills, math anxiety, and learning styles.  Although the site addresses the needs of community college adult learners, it has appeal for middle school and secondary math students and teachers.  The web site has received numerous awards and has been featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the New York Times, and USA Today.

Metric Conversions by Science Made Simple, Inc. contains online measurement conversions for metric and US customary units, such as area, volume, speed, temperature, time, weight, currency, length/height, power, and stress.

Nick's Mathematical Puzzles are for students grades 9 and upward.  Nick Hobson addresses geometry, probability, number theory, algebra, calculus, and logic. Hints are provided, along with answers, fully worked solutions, and links to related mathematical topics. Many of the puzzles are elementary in their statement, yet challenging. There are at least 90 puzzles in this collection.  New puzzles are added on a regular basis.

A key feature of the site is the detailed exposition, from first principles, of the puzzle solutions. Some of the puzzles are used to showcase particular mathematical concepts. See, for example, puzzle 33, where a natural solution invokes mathematical induction, and puzzle 56, which introduces a partition identity. Further references are provided with many of the solutions.  The site is designed with accessibility in mind.

OnlineMathLearning.com is a real find!  It contains math help and learning resources for arithmetic, algebra, geometry, statistics, probability, set theory, trigonometry, matrices, SAT and ACT test preparation, worksheets, games, trivia, and links to related resources.

Platonic Realms for secondary and post-secondary students features a "must-see" interactive mathematics encyclopedia, which can be browsed at elementary and advanced levels.  Topics include basic mathematics, algebra, analysis, biography, calculus, discrete math, history, economics, geometry, graph theory, number theory, statistics, trigonometry, and math quotes.  There is an extensive link library to instructional resources, K-12 and university math departments, institutes, journals, societies, business/commercial math sites, and selected personal pages.  View the mathematics art of M.C. Escher.  For a small fee, downloads and expert math tutoring online are available.

Teaching Treasures offers online interactive practice in K-10 mathematics topics with helpful explanations: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, algebra, measurement, problem solving, shapes, space, reading a clock, and more.

U.S. Department of Education is a comprehensive site for preK-12 and higher education resources, policy information, grants and funding, research and statistics, and more.

WyzAnt Math Help Sections are free and cover multiple areas: elementary math, algebra, geometry, precalculus, calculus, and statistics and probability.  You'll find informative descriptions, interactive examples, and sample problems.  The site also features tutoring, but this latter service is not free.

 

Back to top

 

Practical Applications--
Math in Careers, Daily Life, and Across the Curriculum

 

Math occurs in so many careers and in daily life.  Here's a couple of thoughts for you:

Art of any kind (think people in marketing, too) requires visualization. Many of the pleasing designs use "the golden ratio." See: http://goldennumber.net/goldsect.htm and http://mathworld.wolfram.com/GoldenRatio.html

Architects use sophisticated software to build online virtual models of buildings, houses, and so on. They certainly need visualization skills--those spatial aspects students study in math, which they might practice using online virtual manipulatives. Certainly architects need understanding of geometric and algebraic concepts for making physical models of the real thing.

Auto industry: How about all the math used in the auto industry? Cars contain sophisticated computers. Even now, crash tests are done with simulations.

Builders need to measure accurately to cut those boards, pour those floors (think proportions in getting cement to the right consistency--too much water and the structure breaks). That's where knowledge of fractions comes in.

Cooks, even in the big restaurants, need measurement skills, and proportions for converting recipes for larger or smaller quantities. But there are software packages to help with that and databases for storing those recipes and spreadsheet packages for inventories, profit/loss, and so on.  You need to understand formulas in algebra to design those spreadsheets.

Accountants/Bankers/all businesses use spreadsheet packages. Who's writing the formulas? This is an algebra skill. Profit/loss translates to knowledge of percents and decimals.

Anyone interested in the stock market? Positive and negative numbers are used to indicate what's happening on the market. Gain of so many points, or loss of so many points. Graphing programs (tech part) can be used to create the visual displays. Of course, knowledge of data analysis is needed.

Surveyors use measurement tools and GPS systems.

People in the military use simulations for training. Programmers need math skills to design those environments. Then think of other virtual environments like Second Life--who programs those? Everything in Second Life is designed with basic prims, which are geometric shapes that are placed and stretched to get whatever you see in the virtual worlds.

The list goes on and on.

Math in Careers

American Mathematical Society provides resources to answer the question, "What do mathematicians do?"  This is an excellent place to begin discussion on the topic of "Where am I going to ever use this stuff?" The AMS also produces Mathematical Moments among its Math Awareness Series, a series of posters that promote an appreciation and understanding of the role that math plays in science, nature, technology, and human culture. Some feature podcast interviews with experts in the field.  There is an entire section for high school students, which also contains a video on Careers in Math.

Apply Lessons: Applications of Mathematics is from the Government of British Columbia Ministry of Education.  For students in grades 6-12, this site contains lessons on real world applications of math in various professions: fire fighter, electrical engineer, life guard, vulcanologist, event planner, mechanical drafter engineer, roller coaster designer, house painter, market analyst, golf pro, audiologist, sportscaster, animal health technologist, aerospace engineer, piano tuner, and more.  Complete directions for lessons are included.

BrainCake is a program geared toward girls ages 11-17 world-wide to spark their interest in science and mathematics. It is at the Girls, Math & Science Partnership, a program of Carnegie Science Center. There is an extensive section on careers under "Feed Your Head," plus other resources, activities, discussion and summer programs.

Exactly How is Math Used in Technology?  This is a set of examples provided by the Mathematics Department at the British Columbia Institute of Technology illustrating how topics in algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, statistics and quality control are used in a variety of careers involving technology.  You will find an appropriate math problem and its solution related to the math subject and area of technology you select.  Areas include biomedical engineering, food technology, building technology, chemical sciences, civil and structural engineering, graphics and computer-aided drawing, electronics, environmental health, mechanical engineering, mining technology, nuclear medicine, occupational health, petroleum technology, prosthetics, forestry and wildlife, robotics, and surveying.

Mathematical Association of America posts mathematics careers along with related resources.

Math Apprentice answers the question that nearly every student will ask during his or her math career: When are we ever going to use this stuff in the real world?  The site is among several developed by Colleen King, who said "This rich, multimedia site provides students an opportunity to try various professions that use math. Students can be scientists, engineers, computer animators, video game programmers, and more. Math Apprentice provides areas of free exploration as well as specific problems to solve. The site is free of advertising, free of charge, wholesome and safe for children. I would recommend it for upper elementary and middle school students" (personal communication, September 16, 2009).

Math Central: Explore Mathematics with a Human Face and the "quilt of mathematicians and their careers."  Math Beyond School includes articles appropriate for K-12, sorted by grade band, that address the question: "Where will I ever use this math?" This site has additional resources for teaching math categorized by topic and grade band, a problem of the month, and a section for getting mathematics questions answered.  It is associated with the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Math in the Workplace will definitely help you to answer the question often posed by students, "How am I ever going to use this stuff?"  This project contains real-world math problems with solutions contributed by a variety of businesses in Southwest Idaho.   Problems are aligned with the National Standards for School Mathematics and categorized by strand: Numbers and Operations, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, Data Analysis and Probability.  Grade levels, topics, and reference numbers are provided for each problem, which is also aligned with Idaho State Mathematics Achievement Standards.  The intent of these lessons is to excite students about mathematics, to expose students to professions that employ mathematics, and to demonstrate the relevance of mathematics in solving real-world challenges.  The site is supported by Micron Technology.  Lessons were field tested by teachers.

NASA's No Boundaries project, developed by NASA and USA TODAY Education, "will help you explore careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), as you learn about NASA — the National Aeronautics and Space Administration."  Teacher and student toolkits are available for participating.  Students work individually or in small groups to develop a project that markets careers at NASA to teens.  They present the project to peers and a group of younger students. Then, they can enter their projects in the No Boundaries National Competition.  The deadline for entry is mid-May with winners announced by early June.  See the web site for details.

NASA's Kids Science News Network is a standards-based program that uses the Web, animation, and video to introduce young children to science, technology, engineering, math, including careers in those STEM subjects, and NASA concepts. NASA's KSNN™ uses animated characters (grades K-2 newsbreaks) and web and video technology (grades 3-5 newsbreaks) to explain everyday phenomena of our world, correct misconceptions, and answer frequently asked questions.  This resource is just one of several programs offered by the NASA Center for Distance Learning that span the education horizon from grades K-12, post secondary, to adult (life-long) learners.

Sloan Career Cornerstone Center has numerous resources for careers in math and other fields, and assistance for career planning.

The Fun Works allows you to explore careers in math and other areas that you might never have thought about.

TryEngineering.org: Engineering is a broad field with many disciplines.  This resource for students ages 8-18 is provided by IEEE, IBM and the New York Hall of Science.  It provides resources for exploring engineering as a career, related games, lesson plans allowing teachers and students to apply engineering principles in the classroom, information about finding a university offering engineering degrees, and a Q&A section from actual engineers and undergraduates pursuing engineering degrees.

 

The Amazon widget below shows books using the search phrase: math and careers.  You can also use the widget to search with other key words, such as:

• math and everyday

 

 

Math in Everyday Life

Actuarial Foundation's Math Academy is a series of free downloadable booklets with hands-on activities dealing with real life applications of math for students in grades 3-8.  Each was designed by teachers who wanted a fun learning environment to engage students.  Explorations address probability (Are you game?), patterns and functions (Can you see it in nature?), data analysis and statistics (Play Ball!), fractions, decimals, percents (Dining Out!), combinatorics (Let's Go the the Mall!), and more.

At Home with Math was developed by Marlene Kliman, Jan Mokros, and Alana Parkes at TERC, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, in collaboration with Ceridian Corporation. Content is available in both English and Spanish.  You'll find 10 activities that parents can do at home with their kids.  The developers say, "The ten everyday math activities in this kit build math into the things most families already do--ordinary routines such as figuring out ways to save money, to share fairly, or to get somewhere on time. With these activities, children practice adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, and using other important math skills while doing tasks that are a regular part of life."

Garden Math hosted by The Ohio State University Extension contains articles on this subject, garden calculators, sample problems and calculations, and additional resources.  Bruce Spangenburg's article Math and the Yard & Garden (2001) reminds us that "Planning for planting, fertilizing, mulching, and pest control all involve some math, yet it is often overlooked" (para. 1).

Handbook of Essential Mathematics is from the Air Force Research Laboratory (2006) at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.  It's a resource developed as part of their K-12 math, science, and technology outreach program.  This open source online textbook with three sections is "a compendium of mathematical formulas and other useful technical information that will well serve both students and teachers alike from early grades through early college" (p. 3).  It is included in this Math in Everyday Life section because "Section III, “Applications in Personal Finance”, is a small textbook within [this] book where the language of algebra is applied to that everyday financial world affecting all of us throughout our lives from birth to death" (p. 4).

Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics produced A Parent Handbook to Mathematics, K-6 with some good ideas on how to help a child see that mathematics is part of daily life. The ICTM states, "Perhaps you do not realize it, but whenever you sort objects, read maps or schedules, compare prices, make change, or use a calculator or calendar, you are a model of mathematical behavior. When you measure, weigh, work with family finances, or figure out how much wallpaper will cover a wall, you are a living textbook!"

Math in Daily Life from Learner.org contains several interactives showing learners the practical side of math:

• Playing to Win explores probability and the chances of winning at a casino.
• Savings and Credit takes on reducing debt.
• Population Growth demonstrates the exponential rate of population change.
• Home Decorating applies geometric concepts to interior decorating.
• Cooking by Numbers explores fractions and cooking.
• Universal Language describes the universal nature of mathematical concepts such as Pi.

Math Matters, Apply It!  SIAM, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, developed this series of pdf documents to increase awareness of applied mathematics.  SIAM indicated these were "created for anyone who wants to know more about the mathematics behind everyday life and the technologies we encounter."  You will learn about the math behind renewable wind energy, immunology, vaccination, earthquake simulations, x-ray crystallography, sand and dune motion, image compression, statistics in sports, supercomputing, speeding up the internet, cardiology and heart attacks, stopping and preventing fires, digital face recognition, digital animation, using DNA, CDs and anti-skip technology, with more to come.  Each is one page and can be used with elementary, middle, and high school learners.

MATRIX.  Enter the Matrix via CountOn at MathsYear 2000 from the United Kingdom.  Students need to appreciate the influence of mathematics on culture.  Click on the doors and take your students on a tour of a virtual gallery of exhibitions illustrating mathematics and science related objects.  A historical description accompanies each picture.  There are interactive applets.  Examples of artifacts include an abacus, illustrations of arithmetic and geometry, clocks, compasses, cup weights, mathematical instruments, Victorian scales, and much more.  Students can manipulate and modify geometric solids at gallery 5.

Money Math: Lessons for Life from the U.S. Department of the Treasury is a four-lesson curriculum supplement designed for students, grades 7-9, who will learn math concepts using real-life examples from personal finance. The 86-page free downloadable book features a teacher's guide with lesson plans, reproducible activity pages, and teaching tips.  Lessons are titled: The Secret to Becoming a Millionaire, Wallpaper, Math & Taxes, and Spreading the Budget.  Highly recommended.

NRICH from the University of Cambridge is devoted to enriching mathematics for learners ages 5-19 with games, problems, investigations, and articles.  Resources are free.  This project is part of the the Millennium Mathematics Project, a long-term national math education initiative in the UK.  See also the Plus site, which is their internet magazine published five times a year.  Plus aims to introduce readers ages 15 and up to the beauty and the practical applications of mathematics in science, art and society.

PBS Cyberchase: Featured Themes are listed in the Parents and Teachers section under Lessons and Activities, which "connect mathematics to the world children live in, helping them see that math is all around them! Featured themes include related episodes, Web games and print materials."  A partial list of themes includes math around town, weather, building, math and Halloween, math and sports, and know your dough (financial literacy).

Practical Money Skills for Life: Visa partnered with leading consumer advocates, educators, and financial institutions to create the Practical Money Skills program so that students of all ages can learn the basics of personal finance.  These free educational resources include personal finance articles, games, lesson plans linked to standards, and more.  Online multimedia games include such titles as Financial Football, Financial Soccer, Smart Money Quiz Show, Roadtrip to Savings, Ed's Bank, and more.

 

 

Math Across the Curriculum

Connections! Linking Mathematics to Social Studies, Art, and Science.  This publication from the Middle School Portal of the National Science Digital Library contains "online resources that connect mathematics to three subject areas: social studies, art, and science. Each section contains lesson plans, problems to solve, and examples of mathematics at work within contexts not usually associated with school mathematics."

Scholastic Internet Field Trips for Math.  Field trips are a great way for students to explore the use of mathematics in other subjects or to engage more deeply in a concept.  Field trips at this site explore the history of mathematics, number sense; patterns, functions, and algebraic thinking; estimation, measurement, and computations; spatial sense and geometric concepts; and various math activities (cryptology, harvest time math, and puzzles).  A teacher guide links activities to learning outcomes/standards, technology tips, and strategies for using Internet field trips in the classroom or media center.

Mathematics and Art.  April is Mathematics Awareness Month: http://www.mathaware.org/index.html, sponsored each year by the Joint Policy Board of Mathematics, which is a collaborative effort of the American Mathematical Society, the American Statistical Association, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.  Mathematics and Art was the theme for 2003 in which Joseph Malkevitch (York College, CUNY) gathered resources to explore this relationship.  He stated, "There are, in fact, many arts (music, dance, painting, architecture, sculpture, etc.) and there is a surprisingly rich association between mathematics and each of the arts. My goal here is to give some pointers concerning these many connections" (sec: Introduction). You'll learn about mathematical tools for artists, symmetry, mathematical artists and artist mathematicians; polyhedra, tilings, and dissections; origami (the art of paper folding), and more.

Mathematics in Art and Architecture is an actual course offered in the Department of Mathematics of the National University of Singapore. The resources used in it are enlightening and could be used with high school learners to show them the connection of math to art and architecture. "You will see how mathematics is not just about formulas and logic, but about patterns, symmetry, structure, shape and beauty." Topics like tilings, polyhedra and perspective are explored.

Mathematics Imagery from the American Mathematical Society further explores the relationship between mathematics and art.  The collection of albums of math imagery is extensive from snowflakes, fractals, quilts, woven beads to origami, computer-generated landscapes, tesselations, geometric sculptures, and more.

Mathematics and Geography: Popular Geography Activities for Math Class from TeacherVision. "Connect math and geography with these printables, lessons, and activities for kindergarten through twelfth grade. Use these resources to teach students how to read a map and navigate with mathematical instruments. You'll find lesson plans to help students learn how to make a budget for trip expenses and how to interpret U.S. Census data. There are also handouts on weather, elevation, and converting measurements of distance" (para. 1).

Math and Children's Literature from Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site contains a list of books, sample chapters, and articles with strong math themes.

Mathematics and Literature: Math in Children's Literature is brought to you by Nancy Padak, Ohio Literacy Resource Center, Kent State University. Concepts include addition, counting, estimating, fractions, geometry, graphing, measurement, money, multiplication and division, and number sense. This is a highly recommended extensive list to consider for early childhood and elementary grades.

Math and Literature Idea Bank.  This resource is primarily for elementary grades brought to you by MathCats.  Suggested books and how to use them to connect math to literature are presented.

Mathematics: Making a Literature Connection.  Linda McCardle of lindaslearninglinks.com provides a collection of books for use with elementary grades sorted by concept.  Concepts include sorting, counting, addition/subtraction, time, fractions, measurement, money, and graphing experiences.  She includes activities for using most of the books within the classroom.

Mathematics and Music is a collection of resources on this topic by Dave Rusin.  You'll find odds and ends about tunings, the Mozart Effect, math in connection with specific composers (e.g., Chopin, Bartok), and more.  Site might be more appropriate for high school learners and above.

Radical Math is for educators interested in integrating issues of social and economic justice into their math classes and curriculum.  You'll find links to access and over 700 lesson plans, articles, graphs, charts, data sets, maps, books, and websites to bring these issues into the classroom.

Where Math Meets Music by Joseph Heimiller takes a look at such things as frequency and sound waves created by musical instruments.  Site might be more appropriate for high school learners and above.

Back to top 

The Amazon widget below shows books using the search phrase: math and across curriculum.  You can also use the widget to search with other key words.  Suggestions include:

• math and problem solving
• math and art
• math and geography
• math and literature
• literature with math concepts
• math and music
• math and social studies
• integrating math and science

 

Back to top

 

Problem Solving

Art of Problem Solving (AoPS) contains a variety of resources for avid (gifted) students of mathematics in middle and high school.  According to Mathew Crawford, an AoPS instructor and former National MATHCOUNTS test champion, "The Forum currently has over 8,500 members from all over the world that have posted over 190,000 messages on a variety of math topics.  There are many free resources (in addition to the Forum) such as articles, a LaTeX tutorial, free weblogs, and online Math Jam sessions.  The site also sells a set of problem solving textbooks and has an online school." The Art of Problem Solving Foundation also administers the USA Mathematical Talent Search (USAMTS) website.  The USAMTS is a free mathematics competition open to any US middle or high school student.  [Note: LaTeX is a typesetting system used to produce well-formatted mathematical and scientific writing.]

Famous Problems in the History of Mathematics is from the Math Forum.  "The purpose of this site is to present a small portion of the history of mathematics through an investigation of some of the great problems that have inspired mathematicians throughout the ages. Included are problems that are suitable for middle school and high school math students, with links to solutions, as well as links to mathematicians' biographies and other math history sites."

Math Archives, maintained by the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, is a comprehensive source on various topics in mathematics, software for teaching K-12, and teaching materials (including lesson plans) ranging from K-12 to college calculus.  Materials also include contests and competitions at each level, and problem sets of the week or month.  There is an extensive list of professional societies related to mathematics.

Math.com: The World of Math Online is dedicated to solving math problems at nearly every level of school mathematics, including basic math, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, statistics, calculus and more.  There are online math tools: calculators, graphing utilities, test preparation and study tips, free homework help, a glossary and a math library.  Teacher and parent resources are extensive.

Math Central at the University of Regina (CA) has a collection of resources by education level (topics in elementary school, middle school, secondary school) and curriculum strand, plus a glossary of mathematical terms.  There are additional sections called Mathematics with a Human Face, Problem of the Month, and problem solving help in Quandaries and Queries.

Problems with a Point is designed to complement your existing curriculum with a problem-centered approach to learning mathematics.  According to the Education Development Center in Massachusetts, their goal is to "help students in grades 6-12 learn new mathematical ideas by building on old ones. Each problem or sequence focuses on one mathematical idea and also connects that idea with others. Varying in difficulty and approaches, these problems are useful for teachers, students, parents, math clubs, and home-schoolers. Problems are classified by topic, time required, suggested technology, required mathematical background, and habits of mind that students develop or use as they work. Synopses of the problems are keyword searchable. Answers and solutions are provided, and many problems include hints."

 

 

Back to top | Math Resources: Page  1  |   2   |   3   |   4   |   5  

See related topics:  Math Manipulatives and Standardized Test Preparation.