Jan 12 2014

Questions- lots of questions

Both students and parents often ask where they can find more questions to practise. I thought I would compile a list of my favourites in one place so have put the list in this post on Mathematics for Students. I have referred to all these before but thought it would be useful to have them in place

Note that a great new feature on Craig Barton’s and Simon Woodhead’s diagnosticquestions.com (see these posts for further information on this outstanding site) is the facility to generate a pdf worksheet of any quiz you create. The worksheet includes space for students to write their explanations of why they chose the answer, and why the other answers are wrong. Diagnostic Questions example worksheet

Dec 8 2013

Diagnostic Questions – by Year 7

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I have used the excellent diagnostic questions site on several occasions and last week set Year 7 the task of writing some diagnostic questions on two topics we have been studying recently – Sequences and Co-ordinates. The questions in the above slideshow were all written by Year 7 students and are typical of their questions.

Not only did they have to write the questions but indicate the correct answer and explain the reasoning behind the multiple choice answers they had given. This proved an excellent homework in that students showed that they really understood the topics and the possible misconceptions that can arise. Some students commented that they had included particular answers because they were typical of the mistakes they or their friends made. I believe that thinking about possible wrong answers has given them a deeper understanding.

I would certainly do this again and have added the idea to the homework ideas page.

Nov 16 2013

Diagnostic Questions revisited

It was a couple of weeks ago I wrote about Craig Barton’s and Simon Woodhead’s brilliant Diagnostic Questions site. At the beginning of November I wrote that there were in excess of 1300 questions, just a short time later there are over 1600 questions (September 2014 update – more than 2500) – brilliant! There are some fantastic new questions – do explore all the recent additions.

www.diagnosticquestions.com

I have been using this in class, with Year 7 we used some algebra questions; this led to some excellent discussions, not only did we discuss the right answers but all the wrong ones as well. We even decided on some alternative responses that could have been used. I feel a homework coming on here – we’ll write our own questions. Watch this space!
Update: Diagnostic Questions by Year 7.

It is now possible to download a quiz you have created and easily create a PowerPoint slideshow for offline use. I have created a slideshow with instructions:

Diagnostic questions download and create PowerPoint slideshow from Colleen Young

Craig has created this video giving a tour and commentary on the site:

Nov 1 2013

Questions, Questions …

Our lesson planning should include planning for some high quality questions; good questions help us know more about our students’ learning and help us to address misconceptions.

http://www.diagnosticquestions.com

An outstanding new resource to help us do just that is Craig Barton’s and Simon Woodhead’s Diagnostic Questions site. The site has over 2500 multiple choice questions with carefully designed responses to address common misconceptions.
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The questions are very clearly categorized, there are numerous sub-categories under the main headings of Number, Algebra, Shape, Space and Measure, Data and Statistics and Post 16 – Pure.
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You can just use the site online but registering is highly recommended as you can then create your own quizzes and save them for later use. I found that using the Instant Quiz facility provides a very easy way to do do that as it is possible to add any question to the Instant Quiz. Suppose we wish to create a quiz on Algebra – Expanding Single Brackets; head for the questions and select Algebra – Expanding Single Brackets. The questions will then be displayed and you will see as you hover over any question you have the option to select + which will add that question to the Instant Quiz.
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Once you have selected your questions select Quizzes and then the Instant Quiz, you will find that you can select all the questions and add them to a new quiz. Instant Quiz - rename v2

Once you are satisfied that your new quiz is saved you can delete all the questions in the Instant Quiz and you are ready to go for the next quiz you wish to create!

Teachers everywhere – this is a chance to collaborate – it is easy to upload your own questions – so far I have found the PowerPoint route the easiest way to go – here’s one I created earlier!

I think we all owe a huge thank you to Craig and Simon for making this happen – I really look forward to seeing how this develops.

Update – download your quizzes.

I am pleased to say that the Rich Questions post is one of the most popular on this blog – so the Diagnostic Questions site has been added there. There also seems to be a great deal of interest in the 5 Minute Lesson Plan which quite rightly includes planning for questions.

Last word to Einstein: “The important thing is not to stop questioning.”

Mar 17 2013

Brilliant Questions

Freerice is owned by and supports the World Food Programme. For every correct answer 10 grains of rice are donated through the World Food Programme. Users can answer questions in several categories including two on Maths, one on multiplication and one on basic Maths. It is possible to play at various levels, so choosing level 10 for example means that questions on fractions and directed numbers will be included. Students can sign up (under 14s need parents permission) or login easily with their Facebook account to track their totals and join and create groups. Teachers can register a class, so this provides a way for teachers of much younger students to sign up their students.

Sporkle

Sporkle – you have 2 minutes to fill in the missing prime numbers!

Another site which includes a social aspect is Sporkle which has an extensive collection of timed quizzes in many subjects, many mathematics quizzes are available; I have linked to some here on Mathematics for Students. If you register you can create your own quizzes and give the link to friends. It is then possible to see how people get on with your quiz!

Brilliant

And last but certainly not least is a site which I came across recently which I think lives up to its name, Brilliant! Signing up to this site allows users to join an international community and get free weekly, personalised problems. Questions at various levels are available, including questions suitable for younger students.

Click the image to see similar problems

This would be an excellent site for any students preparing for participation in Maths challenges, particularly by using Brilliant’s Techniques Trainer. Brilliant are currently developing a “Teacher Level” that has a wider range of problems that can be shared which would make it possible to share problems from a number of different levels with students. (Post with link to Brilliant for students).