March Mathematics

It seems appropriate to start this post with these brilliant March Calendars from Wayne Chadburn.

For a little bit of Maths each day students can use one of these March Calendars.
There are calendars available for Foundation, Foundation+ and Higher. All the calendars can be downloaded from the above link. All are designed to be non-calculator calendars. You can check your answers with the solutions provided.


National Careers Week runs from 1st-6th March. amsp are offering two free online enrichment events for Year 10 students to coincide with National Careers Week and British Science Week, both events will look at some of the varied careers which use maths. Further details are here: Which Career? – Meet people working in different roles and Which Career? – How maths is used in different roles. As amsp point out …

Attending the events will help both teachers and students link maths curriculum learning to careers, thus fulfilling Gatsby Benchmark 4.

4. Linking curriculum learning to careersAll teachers should link curriculum learning with careers. For example, STEM subject teachers should highlight the relevance of STEM subjects for a wide range of future career paths.

Check the BBC Bitesize Careers page to see what Bitesize is providing this week and note the information available here including Where could your favourite subject take you? Check out the Jobs that use Maths.

For more on linking curriculum learning to Careers see this post.


See updated page – World Book Day.

World Bok Day Problems
World Book Day Problems – Laura Rees-Hughes
AQA – Read All About It

March 14th is the International Day of Mathematics. The theme for 2021 is Mathematics for a Better World. Also celebrated in many countries as Pi Day because that date is written as 3/14 in some countries.

Looking at the suggestions to decorate an International Day of Mathematics event note this Mathematical Origami from the amazing Mathigon site.

Mathigon-Origami

Negative Numbers

GCSE Mathematics Subject Content
KS3 Mathematics Subject Content

Students need to be confident in applying the four operations to positive and negative numbers; the image above shows the subject content included in GCSE (age 14-16) Maths specifications. KS3 (age 11-14) students too are required to be fluent with negative numbers.

A look at some resources to develop understanding of operations with positive and negative integers and exercises for practice …

To use the number line as a model for ordering real numbers and also to illustrate operations with negative numbers we can use the excellent PhET simulations, Number Line: Distance, Number Line: Integers, and Number Line: Operations. All are excellent for students to explore.

Create a free teacher account to access further help and information on any PhET resource including a very comprehensive guide to using the resource and suggested lesson activities. See Number Line: Integers and Number Line: Operations.


Mathisfun
Mathisfun

I’ll mention the ‘sign rules’ here as they cause much confusion and many misconceptions, we need to word these so carefully. In fact, we need some more examples to stress we are talking about adjacent like signs.
Look at -4−-3 and -4−-6 for example.     

MathsBot – Directed Number – MCQ Generator

From Jonathan Hall, on MathsBot, generate all the addition and subtraction multiple-choice questions you want with his brilliant Directed Number MCQ Generator. I really like the option to have questions using counters of varying relative sizes.

MathsBot – Directed Number – MCQ Generator

Also from Jonathan Hall, try his Directed Number.

Mathsbot – Directed Number

On Chris McGrane’s Starting Points Maths, check the Negative Numbers category. Several tasks are available.

Starting Points Maths

Graspable Math

We can use Graspable Math to check calculations.


Nrich

We have numerous activities from Nrich.


Don Steward

From Don Steward we have many wonderful resources, see

Check this excellent post of his suggestions.


Diagnostic Questions

On Craig Barton’s Variation theory, you will find several negative number examples. Also from Craig Barton, try these two Maths Venns and of course Diagnostic Questions where we could search in several ways, but have a look for example at the collections including The Eedi Ultimate Scheme of Work.


N9 Standards Unit – Always true, sometimes true or never true?

From the brilliant Standards Unit, N8, Using directed numbers in context and N9, Evaluating directed number statements.


Colin Foster – KS3 Instant Maths Ideas

Colin Foster’s KS3 Instant Maths Ideas (3 books) are freely available online; these contain a wealth of ideas to try in the classroom. 1.13 in Number and Algebra is on Negative Numbers.


Transum Mathematics
Transum Mathematics

Transum has several activities including basic practice in the four operations.


CIMT Interactive Tutorials

Try the interactive tutorials on CIMT for these quizzes where students can check answers, Addition and Subtraction and Multiplication and Division.


Corbett Maths

Corbett Maths provides us, as always, with videos and many practice examples. Scroll down the list to Negatives for a set of resources.


On Dr Frost Maths, see the KS3 Negative Number resources, note that the downloadable resource (slides which cover the four operations) and the video can be accessed without signing in.


On Mathisfun you will find information on number lines including questions to try, examples and definitions for adding and subtracting positive and negative numbers and examples for multiplying and dividing negative numbers.

Mathisfun
Mathisfun

I’ll mention the ‘sign rules’ here as they cause much confusion and many misconceptions, we need to word these so carefully. In fact, we need some more examples to stress we are talking about adjacent like signs.
Look at -4−-3 and -4−-6 for example.     

I like the wording here, students are often confused with sign rules when adding and subtracting positive and negative numbers.

Mathisfun
Mathisfun

A little puzzle and more, TM MathsIcons

I couldn’t agree more with Siân, it’s always a pleasure listening to Simon Singh as it was listening to all the other great presentations at the February TM Maths Icons Conference. An amazing day – thank you so much @TMMathsIcons.


A reminder of Simon Singh’s Parallel and Top-Top Set Maths Project:

Parallel Maths Project – Simon Singh

Not a conventional competition, but to challenge your able mathematicians, try Parallel from Simon Singh. All materials and resources are completely free and teachers will have access to all the student scores from the Parallelograms which are automatically marked.

Students earn points depending on their percentage score on each Parallelogram, which in turn earns mathematical badges. Even before you create an account Even without an account, you can get a taste of what we offer by just clicking on the Parallelograms on the left. Have a look at this parallelogram on Pie Charts and Speed Reading for example.

The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets

The references to Simon’s book The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets was a reminder of all the brilliant Maths hidden in The Simpsons. Information for teachers on the book is available, including a PowerPoint presentation for teachers Simon Singh has created, notes are given with the slides.

It was also a reminder that back in 2014 I was honoured to feature a post featuring answers by Simon Singh to my questions.


I enjoyed all the sessions, including Robert Southern on Graphical Transformations.


My own presentation was on the use of Colour in Mathematics and all the slides and some further links referenced in the slides are available on a dedicated page.


The puzzle at the beginning of the post which apparently Bart got before the rather more nerdy Lisa featured in the episode Lisa the Simpson.