Are you confused by terms that educators use? The ASCD Lexicon of Learning might be what you need.
Our collection of Math Resources has multiple pages designed for teaching within specific grade bands. You'll also find valuable collections of support and enrichment resources that will benefit all learners.
Math Resources (Page 1 of 5): Elementary and Middle Levels: Basic Mathematics and Skills Development, plus special tech resources for K-12
Math Resources (Page 2 of 5): Middle, Secondary, Post-Secondary Subject Specific Resources: Algebra and Pre-Algebra, Geometry, Statistics, Probability, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus and Calculus
Math Resources (Page 3 of 5): K-12 Supplementary Collections: Miscellaneous Math Collections; Practical Applications--Math in Careers, Daily Life, and Across the Curriculum; and Problem Solving
Math Resources (Page 4 of
5): Enrichment and Extra Help
Math Resources (Page 5 of 5): Lesson Plans and Worksheets, Design and Manage Your Own Lesson Plans, and Publishers' Textbook Support Sites
American
Mathematical Society has an entire section
for high school
students, which contains an extensive listing for summer camps and
math contests and competitions.
American Regions Math League sponsors an annual national competition for high school students, although some exceptional middle school students attend each year. The contest is held the weekend after Memorial Day. Prior contest questions are posted with answers. You will also find lists of other national, state, and regional math contests under Resources for Mathletes.
Aunty Math poses a challenging math problem for students in grades K-5 every other week. Each challenge, written in age appropriate language, is presented as a story taken from the life of Aunty Math and her two nephews and niece. Problems encourage use of thinking skills and are correlated to NCTM standards. Students can submit their answers and solution methods for posting on the Web. Teachers and parents can access archived problems, view solution strategies, and find tips to extend each lesson. The site contains colorful graphics and large type suitable for reading by young students.
Conceptis Puzzles advance development of logic. Puzzles are divided into three main lines: Picture Logic, Number Logic and Kids Logic. Think of forms of Sudoku, which is also available. Math puzzles vary in levels of difficulty. For example, Calcudoku involves addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with a choice of one operation or various combinations of those operations and size of the square puzzle grid. These can be very addictive, offering hours of mental stimulation.
Continental Math League has been in existence since 1980 and offers challenging math contents for students all over the U.S. in grades 2-9 and calculus. Tests are paper/pencil and meets are held three times a year for grades 2-3, five times for grades 4-9, and four times for calculus students. Each team per grade can have any number of students with exams taking about 30-40 minutes each. There are awards. A nominal fee is charged for participation.
Figure This! contains math challenges for middle school students and their families and is award winning, funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education. Each challenge describes the math involved, where the math is used in the real world, a hint to get started, and complete solutions. There are a "Try This" section, additional related problems with answers, additional questions to think about, related math fun facts, and resources for further exploration. The math index categorizes challenges according to strands: algebra, geometry, measurement, number, and statistics and probability. Engaging cartoon characters illustrate features of at least 80 different challenges, such as Line Up, Beating Heart, Popcorn, and Don't Fall In.
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.
MATHCOUNTS is a national math enrichment, coaching & competition program that promotes middle school mathematics. Schools select students to compete individually or as part of a team in one of the more than 500 written & oral competitions held nationwide. Top students advance to the state, & ultimately, national level. MATHCOUNTS also has a problem of the week and an extensive archive of problems posed each year, dating back to 1996. MATHCOUNTS at Rochester Institute of Technology competition for students with hearing loss is sponsored by the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.
Math Kangaroo in USA is "an international not-selective competition in mathematics for students in grades 1 through 12. The competition takes the form of a multiple choice test. Each participant is seen as a winner and receives recognition and gifts on the test day in March. Those who achieve the top results are awarded in May. The atmosphere of appreciation for the students' learning and the fun in each competition room across USA are the reasons why participants return year after year and bring their siblings and friends along" (section: Our History). There is a nominal charge per student. Practice material is available.
Math League specializes in math contests, books, and computer software designed to stimulate interest and confidence in mathematics for students from the 4th grade through high school. Whether or not you choose to participate in a contest, educators will find the Help Facility for Grades 4-8 of value. This reference guide addresses math topics for grades 4-8, complete with examples, definitions, and explanations for whole numbers, decimals, using data and statistics, fractions, geometry, ratio and proportion, percent and probability, integers, measurement, introductory algebra, and more.
Math Olympiads for grades 4-6 and 7-8 features five monthly contests (November-March) with five non-routine problems per contest, which can be completed at the participants' school. Each team can have up to 35 students. Prizes are awarded at the end of the fifth contest. There is also a problem of the month posted, along with the answer to the prior month's problem.
Mathschallenge.net contains a variety of puzzles and challenges suitable for grades 6-12, and adults. Problems are divided into appropriate levels: junior, senior, and advanced. There is a section for recreational mathematics dealing with number, code breaking, and geometry. Project Euler contains a series of challenging mathematical/computer programming problems.
Moody's Mega Math Challenge (M3Challenge) is an applied mathematics competition for high school students. Winners receive scholarships totaling thousands of dollars for continuing education. The contest is sponsored by the Moody Foundation and SIAM (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics). For additional information, also see the YouTube video, accessed from the site.
Ole Miss Math Challenge is hosted by the University of Mississippi. It was originally started by David Rock and Doug Brumbaugh as the online Problem of the Week contest in 1996 at the University of Central Florida. You can submit your answer, and if correct, your name can be posted at the site and you can win a T-shirt. These are very engaging problems promoting interest in math at all age levels. Problems from other sections (Algebra in Action, Middle School Madness, and Elementary Brain Teaser) are geared to specific audiences--highly recommended.
Online Math League features three competitions each year with each contest open for a month to accommodate flexible scheduling for participation. Contests range in levels for grades 2 through algebra and meet state and national standards. Scores are immediately posted online and students can compete with others from around the world. Team and individual awards are given. There is an interactive online practice area with multiple practice tests at each level with feedback for incorrect answers and opportunity to try problems again. A nominal fee is attached for an individual and student teams.
Platonic Realms delivers fresh math humor, quotes, historical notes, and a mathematical challenge problem every day. Each day the solution from the previous day's challenge problem is made available.
Problems of the Week (PoW): The Math Forum at Drexel University provides weekly challenging problems for students in grades 3-12 in six categories: elementary, middle, algebra, geometry, discrete mathematics, and trigonometry/calculus. Each category also contains a schedule for upcoming problems, and an archive to past problems and solutions. Problem-solving and communicating math are key elements to all problems. An information page and PoW discussion area are provided for teacher support. Also see Ken-Ken. Ken-Ken is free and has a puzzle format similar to Sudoku, only with numbers. You can choose the math operation(s) for each puzzle and level of difficulty. The Math Forum also provides a Technology Problem of the Week.
SEED (Schlumberger Excellence in Educational Development, Inc.) Math Puzzles, featured under Science, address number sense, arithmetic, probability, algebraic thinking; geometry, spatial reasoning, and visualization; topology, logic, combinatorics, and miscellaneous topics. These are appropriate for middle school and above.
USA Mathematical Talent Search (USAMTS) is a free mathematics competition open to all United States middle and high school students. Students can take up to a month to solve the problems and must submit their justifications. According to USAMTS, "Problems range in difficulty from being within the reach of most high school students to challenging the best students in the nation. Students may use any materials - books, calculators, computers - but all the work must be their own. The USAMTS is run on the honor system." There are prizes.
Word Problems for Kids, located at St. Francis Xavier University, is for teachers and students in grades 5-12. Problems, which were selected to help develop problem-solving skills, have been adapted from the Canadian Mathematics Competitions and are divided by grade level. Hints and answers are included. Select a problem of the week to add to your curriculum.
World Math Day is an annual competition from 3P Learning that began in 2007 and has been in March. It's free and open worldwide to schools and students ages 5-18. Prizes are awarded for each level of play. Thousands of schools globally have participated each year. Join the fun and help set a new world record!
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The Amazon widget below shows books using the search phrase: math and enrichment. You can also use the widget to search with other key words. Suggestions include:
Are you interested in a math camp or summer program in your area?
American Mathematical Society maintains a list of summer math camps and programs for high school students.
Cogito.org maintained by Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth has an extensive list of summer programs (elementary, middle, and high school) throughout the U.S. and internationally in math and other academic areas.
Math Forum maintains an annotated list of math camps and summer programs, some just for girls. States include California, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas, and Washington, for example.
MySummerCamps.com has an extensive list of math camps and other academic and pre-college camps in several states.
Parents:
Do you want to help your children learn mathematics? The U.S.
Department of Education has a booklet,
Helping Your Child Learn Mathematics with fun activities that parents
can use with children from preschool age through grade 5 to strengthen
their math skills and build strong positive attitudes toward math.
You'll find activities for the home, the grocery store, and for when you are "on
the go."
Students: Do you need help with studying, homework or solving problems?
Cosmeo.com is Discovery Channel's homework help for students in grades 2-12. The service has a monthly fee, but free trials are available. There is also a section called Math Made Easy (K-12) with interactive math tools to help solve problems, and get step-by-step solutions in topics up to advanced math for high school.
Cramster.com is a global online study community centered on providing understanding to math questions whether it's related to homework, exam preparation or general learning. High school and college learners have access for free to step-by-step solutions and answers for odd numbered exercises within several math texts, all lecture notes and practice exams, and Cramster's Answer Board where members ask and answer questions moderated by Cramster Subject Matter Experts. However, math texts are primarily for upper level courses such as calculus, probability, statistics, with some linear and intermediate algebra and trigonometry. There is also a premium membership for a fee to get access to all materials.
Dweeber.com is a free social website primarily for learners aged 13 and up. Its purpose is to help them get homework done faster by working with their school friends online. There's an interactive whiteboard for working together to solve problems, or to create diagrams or drawings. You can set up virtual group study sessions using chat and create a SMART profile to understand your own learning strengths and talents, and to better connect you with those who think and learn as you do. There is a section for resources that allows students to share relevant websites that help with assignments for particular subjects. Plus, teachers can use the site for their classrooms or join in a chat with groups for additional learning support.
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.
Free Math Help has lessons for algebra, geometry, trig, calculus, and some other subjects/topics. Enter your math problem and get step-by-step help for the solution. The site also provides text and video lessons to accompany many topics in those subjects.
Game Classroom is for students in grades 1-6. It contains a collection of trustworthy educational games sorted according to skill, topic and grade level. These were selected by educators "with the single goal of providing students, parents and teachers with the best interactive homework help the web has to offer." Math skills and language arts skills are featured.
Homework Hotline is a free service for math and science homework help from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Help is provided by phone or email/chat by college students selected by faculty to tutor. The service is primarily for Indiana students in grades 6-12; however, requests for help from students all over the country are accepted, according to The Homework Hotline Office (personal communication, January 11, 2010). The Homework Hotline is available from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time), Sunday through Thursday, September through May.
Hotmath provides 24/7 help with homework in your pre-algebra, algebra 1 or 2, geometry, pre-calculus or calculus course. Choose your text from the major publishers, get hints and step-by-step tutorials for odd-numbered problems shown on your selected page.
HowToStudy.com contains a series of tips and strategies for studying, dealing with anxiety, taking tests, listening and taking notes in class, reading, solving math problems, writing research papers, managing time, and more.
howtostudy.org contains a how to study model and resources for study skills, how to study, and how to write within several subject areas.
Mathway is a free online problem solver for basic math, pre-algebra, algebra, trigonometry, precalculus, and calculus. There is graphing capability, and also a glossary of key math terms.
PhatMath.com, the brainchild of a Harvard PhD mathematician Iris Mack, promotes itself as a "Mathematics Edutainment Social Network ." It features free 24/7 mathematics homework help, 40 Math chat rooms (discussion forums) for grades K-12 and College mathematics courses, and the ability to post/solve math problems in different math chat rooms. There are also activities to help students develop math proficiency and financial literacy skills; databases of professional role models, mentors, and more; databases of internships, career exploration, information for job opportunities, scholarships, grants and loans for students; and private one-on-one math tutoring from Ivy League PhDs.
Sophia.org is a free social learning community focusing only on education. So it is designed for teachers and learners. It has particular relevance "for learners looking for academic assistance with a specific topic, a deeper understanding of a particular academic subject or increasing their overall knowledge" (Sophia for Learners section). There are multimedia modules in several subject areas. For mathematics, content is for basic mathematics, algebra, geometry, advanced math, pre-calculus/trigonometry, calculus, and statistics. Pre- and post-tests help determine mastery. There is also a learning strategies section with study skills and time management assistance. Learners can form study groups, too.
Study Guides and Strategies contains several sections: study skills, preparing for tests, taking tests; improving research, project management, reading, writing, science, and math skills.
Quandaries and Queries brought to you by Math Central at the University of Regina (CA) will help you answer "nagging" math problems or questions you can't solve. You can browse for topics already covered, read questions and latest answers, or send an email with your question, if you can't find help in what is already posted.
QuickMath, powered by Mathematica, is an automatic problem-solving site developed by Dr. B. Langton of Sydney, Australia. Secondary and college students and their instructors will benefit from the quick solutions to problems encountered with algebra, equations, inequalities, calculus (differentiation and integration), number concepts, and matrices. Graphing appearance can be user-modified. The only thing you will need to know to use the free service is how to enter expressions and equations. Highly recommended.
Tutor.com is not free (price is noted at the website), but it connects students to a professional tutor the moment they need help. Tutors are available 24/7 for one-to-one instructional support in math, science, English, and social studies. Tutoring is online in real time using interactive whiteboards and chat features.
WatchKnowLearn.org contains a database of free educational videos organized for students ages 3 to 18, so that they can get extra "instant tutoring" on almost any topic taught when they need it. There are multiple content areas, including about 1000 videos in mathematics and over 100 on standardized test skills and math study skills. The project's executive director is Larry Sanger, who co-founded Wikipedia. Its Advisory Committee contains recognized leaders in education.
Webmath is composed of many math "fill-in-forms" into which you can type the math problem you're working on. Linked to these forms is a powerful set of math-solvers, that can instantly analyze your problem, and when possible, provide you with a step-by-step solution. Categories include Math for Everyone, General Math, K-8 Math, Algebra, Plots & Geometry, Trig & Calculus, and Other Stuff.
Wolfram|Alpha Enter a question requiring a factual answer or calculation, including one in which graphing is involved, and Wolfram|Alpha uses its built-in algorithms and a growing collection of data to compute the answer. This resource can be used by anyone, including K-20 learners, educators in the classroom, other professionals, and beyond. Multiple topics are included: math, engineering, physics, places and geography, dates and times, money and finance, units and measures, chemistry, health and medicine, foods and nutrition, colors, music, and much more. This is not a search engine, but Wolfram|Alpha has sidebar links for doing web searches. Also see Wolfram|Alpha for iPhone and iPad.
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Teachers: Don't make assumptions about a child's home environment when assigning homework.
Teachers are always concerned about missed assignments, particularly in math where homework is often assigned daily. Cathy Vatterott (2009) advised:
While some students choose not to do their homework, for others there might be understandable reasons why they don't always do it. Home circumstances, as noted by Vatterott (2009), might play a role. Younger children and teens might have considerable family related responsibilities, jobs, extensive extra curricular activities, and so on.
ZAP (Zeroes Aren't Permitted) those zeroes on homework.
Giving zeroes for missing homework assignments is easy to do. An alternative of assigning 50% in the grade book instead of "0" might help keep students from giving up, but that solution does not measure learning, nor lead to it.
Trying to come up with an alternative solution to the problem of zeroes that works is more time consuming, but in this age of accountability, the effort is worth it. Consider reading Teaching Heroes: Toss the Zeroes by Cara Bafile (2008) at Education World. Bafile noted three alternatives and schools that use them:
Students:
Are you having difficulty with a particular math term or idea? If so,
check out these resources:
A Maths Dictionary for Kids by J. Eather is an attention-getting, animated collection of over 500 terms found in K-8 math. Definitions with examples and interactive activities reinforce concepts.
Connecting Mathematics from the University of Cambridge and Partners is a thesaurus with brief explanations of mathematical terms and ideas. There are various multimedia galleries with images, animations, dynamic geometry diagrams, and 3D views. Mathematical ideas are linked to others using five types of links:
eCalc Math Help Reference Sheets for algebra, geometry, trigonometry (definitions, laws, identities), and calculus (derivatives, limits, integrals). There are six reference sheets in all with key definitions, properties, operations, and formulas in each subject.
Glencoe McGraw-Hill Math Multilingual eGlossary for grades 6-12. Select your grade level and then find the term you need. There is also a section for math formulas. The glossary can be viewed in multiple languages.
LearnAlberta: Mathematics Glossary (Canada) has definitions for mathematical terms for grades 1 through 12. The terms are organized by grade and alphabetically. Many definitions provide interactive animations and examples.
Mathematics Dictionary & Glossary is primarily for secondary and early tertiary students who are studying mathematics or math-related subjects. It contains over 2,000 defined words, terms and concepts, all of which are cross-referenced with live linking. These have been written by ITS Tutorial School (Hong Kong) and appropriately edited.
Mathwords.com. "This website is designed for math students who need an easy-to-use, easy-to-understand math resource all in one place. It is a comprehensive listing of formulas and definitions from Algebra I to Calculus. The explanations are readable for average math students, and over a thousand illustrations and examples are provided," according to developer Bruce Simmons, who teaches math.
MathWorld is a comprehensive and interactive mathematics encyclopedia for students (grades 7-12, post-secondary), educators, math enthusiasts, and researchers. This award winning site, hosted by Wolfram Research, Inc., makers of Mathematica, has been assembled over the past decade by E. Weisstein with assistance from the mathematics and internet communities. Subjects indexed include algebra, applied math, calculus and analysis, discrete math, foundations of math, geometry, history and terminology, number theory, probability and statistics, recreational math, and topology. Explanations include mathematical exposition and illustrative examples.
Multimedia Math Glossary from Harcourt School Publishers is a dictionary of mathematical terms associated with each grade level K-6. Each term is accompanied by a definition, example, and audio. Animation is included.
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.
Bafile, C. (2008, August 18). Teaching heroes: Toss the zeroes. Education World. Available: http://www.education-world.com/a_admin/admin/admin531.shtml
Vatterott, C. (2009). Rethinking homework: Best practices that support diverse needs. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
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See
related topics: Math Manipulatives
and Standardized Test
Preparation.
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Last revised 01/14/12
CT4ME Author: Dr. Patricia Deubel
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