Oct 16 2016

Challenge Your Mathematics Students …

To achieve the highest grades at GCSE (taken in the UK by students age 15-16) students will need to be good problem solvers which include being able to make and use connections between different parts of Mathematics. There are many suggested resources in the Problem Solving Presentation.

For older students (16+) I have included Underground Mathematics. I have also used Undeground Mathematics resources with my very able GCSE students; see for example Introducing Calculus. There are many Underground Mathematics Resource Types. One of the types I have written on before is the Review Questions which in the words of the Underground Maths Team:

These are questions designed to test students’ understanding of one or more topics and to exercise their problem-solving skills. In many cases they can also be used as a classroom resource to help teach concepts and methods. They are mostly drawn from past examination questions and have been chosen as ones that are interesting in nature and require non-routine thinking. The hints and solutions are designed to explain the reasoning and highlight connections as well as giving the answer. In many cases, alternative methods or solutions are presented.

Checking the Review Question type in this category we see that O/AO-level questions are included.

I see several questions here that will provide appropriate challenge for my GCSE students.
For example:

Can we fully factorise x⁴+4y⁴?
Starts with a Show that….
And then we factorise and will need to recall the difference of two squares.
We could get very sophisticated and look at those quadratic factors too; useful for those studying the Level 2 Further Mathematics Qualification.

Can we simplify these algebraic fractions?
Review algebraic fractions, simplifcation including the difference of two squares and quadratic equations. We could of course also talk about functions (including domain and range as these students are also studyling AQA’s Level 2 Further Mathematics)

Can we simplify these simultaneous equations of degree 1 and 2?
Solve simultaneous equations, we’ll need simplification of algebraic fractions again and we can talk about the graphical solution of equations. We will also need to factorise a quadratic, 3y²−y−80 with a coefficient which is not 1 for the square term. We have all decided we are fans of the Box Method!

You can also search on the Line and the Station to narrow your search; you can also save and categorise your favourites by creating a (free) account.

Oct 9 2016

Mathematical Miscellany #7

Questions Questions..

I have been busy checking and updating various pages on this blog, taking into account popular resources.
See:

Problems and Activities
Rich Tasks (an odd name really, but one we all recognise!)
Questions

Mr Barton Maths
Craig Barton has been working hard redesigning his wesite, Mr Barton Maths. You will find a treasure trove here for teachers and students. Note in particular Craig’s Maths Topic Index Page.

For each topic, you will find information on all the GCSE specifications, a whole variety of resources, questions and more. The pages are very easy to navigate. Note the inclusion of Diagnostic Questions for each topic, a resource which is going from strength to strength this now has over 20,000 Multiple Choice Questions. Multiple Choice Questions when well written like this can be an excellent way of addressing student misconceptions.

For more on Underground Mathematics, an introductory post is here and you can view all posts in the category Underground Mathematics.

Suppose you are interested in Quadratics and want to stretch your students – you’ll find an extensive collection here, As always, for each resource, you will find so much more than just the question and solutions but for example all the printable materials you need and suggestions for teaching with the resource.
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If you create an account you can easily save and organise your favourite resources. This list of favourites can be downloaded as a csv file.
For some of my recent favourites see this Excel file cy-ugmaths-favourites or as a pdf: cy-ugmaths-favourites Note the handy Excel =hyperlink(cell) command for turning the text to a hyperlink).

The favourites facility is sophisticated – you can create sub collections also.

Note Scary Sum – what a lovely problem!

I regularly feature favourite resources; here’s a great way to look at circles! The teddy bear! As with all the resources on Underground mathematics much more than just the problem is available; note the printable/ supporting materials for the teddy bear problem.

I can never resist creating a Desmos page!

One of my resolutions for Maths teachers, one I think applies to teachers of any subject is a reminder about talking to the students about learning and study strategies. Read The Learning Scientists blog for more information and note the excellent downloadable materials on study strategies. Since I wrote that post more slides to use in class with your students are now available, including on Retrieval Practice, a subject I have long been interested in and something I have seen as important all through my teaching career. See my own Low Stakes Testing in the Mathematics Classroom.

Follow @AceThatTest on Twitter or on Facebook.

At ResearchEd 2016 I very much enjoyed Oliver Caviglioli’s session on Visual knowledge for better explanation and recall. Oliver is a trainer of Visual Strategies, he collaborated with The Learning Scientists to create the six posters on effective study strategies. Note his free resources for teachers coming soon, Cognitive Science HOW2s.

Continuing on the theme of retrieval practice, a reminder of a favourite resource, something I have used in my first lessons this week with various classes, Corbett Maths 5-a-day. If you scroll down the GCSE 9-1 collection you will see that Mr Corbett is working on the answers too.

Students appreciate the idea of regular reviews throughout the course.

A reminder of just how useful Twitter can be!

As a member of the TES Maths Panel I have often come across the excellent resources from @Pixi_17. In fact writing the original post on Iterative Techniques (and note the June 16 update with a Further Resources / Questions section) I was able to include a resource of hers on the subject. An extensive collection of quality resources on piximaths.co.uk.

Sep 18 2016

Introducing Calculus

New on the GCSE specification we have interpretation of the gradient at a point on a curve. I want to introduce this to my very able Year 11 (UK age 15-16) class this week. As this class is also studying for AQA’a Level 2 Further Mathematics Qualification I want to go beyond the GCSE specification. Talking of the Further Maths specification – a wonderful find – thank you Craig Barton – so many wonderful resources for this specification. Thanks too, to Mark Greenaway, Thomas Whitham Sixth Form College and on YouTube, Raw Maths, Jerry Jam and Riley Maths.

Some resources – I plan on using:

Perhaps after initial explanations with reminders about what they already know about distance time graphs and emphasising that a gradient is a rate of change, a good starting activity, A tangent is … from Underground Mathematics which emphasises rather well that a tangent is a local property of a graph.

I want them to draw some tangents and see how accurate they can be, so I’ll give everyone a good size graph of f(x) = x² and have them draw tangents at x=0, 1, 2, 3 and 4, something that has worked well with A Level students. We can use Desmos to check our work, Tangents to f(x)=x² – Desmos. (For even more @Desmos sophistication – see the end of this post).

Back with Underground Maths again we will use Gradient Match to match functions with their gradient functions. This can be used interactively online. All the resources you need and a solution are provided.

Further Resources
AQA – Bridging the Gap – Pocket 3 is on Graphs and Real Life Contexts; this includes Distance Time Graphs and Velocity Time Graphs.

OCR’s Topic Check In 7.04 Interpreting Graphs 7.04

There are several resources for teaching this topic on AQA’s All About Maths including clear PowerPoints and suggested lesson activities.
(Free for AQA Centres, find out how to register).

Sep 11 2016

Mathematical Miscellany #7

Follow @AceThatTest on Twitter or on Facebook.

Students appreciate the idea of regular reviews throughout the course.

#slowmathchat
#maths & #math come together here, @cbrownLmath (US) & myself @ColleenYoung (UK) decided we like the idea of a continuing anytime chat. The original idea from Michael Fenton, see Twitter Chats vs Family Dinners….. (note #slowmathchat – math saves a charcter!)

This coming week we will focus on homework, appropriate for the beginning of the academic year as we establish routines. For some alternative homework ideas, see this page.

On the subject of Twitter, a reminder of just how useful it can be!

As a member of the TES Maths Panel I have often come across the excellent resources from @Pixi_17. In fact writing the original post on Iterative Techniques (and note the June 16 update with a Further Resources / Questions section) I was able to include a resource of hers on the subject. She has now organised her resources on her own website piximaths.co.uk.

Cambridge University’s Underground Mathematics is an outstanding resource for teachers of students age 16-19 and I believe will be an important source of ideas for teaching the new Advanced Level specifications.

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I will be regularly featuring favourite resources; here’s a great way to look at circles! The teddy bear! As with all the resources on Underground mathematics much more than just the problem is available; note the printable/ supporting materials for the teddy bear problem.

I can never resist creating a Desmos page!

Further posts on Underground Mathematics.

Teddy Bear Problem – Underground Mathematics on Desmos

More posts in the Mathematical Miscellany category.

Jun 25 2016

Review Questions – Underground Mathematics

I wrote earlier on the wonderful resources on Underground Mathematics from the University of Cambridge. Thinking about the new A level specifications I believe this site will provide us with rich resources for these new specifications.

Each section includes Review Questions, look at Thinking about Algebra for example; scroll down the different resource types for the Review questions for this station.

Alternatively you can browse all the Review questions.

An excellent feature of Underground Mathematics is the excellent search facility; we could look at the Review questions by type. One can also search by line ( Number, Geometry, Algebra, Functions or Calcuus) and by Station.

See the example question below, for each review question you will find the question, a suggestion, the solution and sometimes suggestions for taking it further with for example GeoGebra resources.

Note the star by the title – if you choose to log on to the site (you don’t have to but it’s a very good idea!) you can save any favourite resources to your collection.

I can never resist a quick illustration on Desmos! I think I’ll start an Underground Maths Desmos collection! Note the use of the hyperlink on Desmos to link to the question.
Select the image for the Desmos page.

I think we have a wonderful supply of excellent questions here to challenge our students and help them see connections between the various areas of the subject. These are ideal to use with A Level students; some are also useful for higher level GCSE students aiming at those top grades or Level 2 Further Maths students. Any student who wants to study Mathematics at university should certainly be using this site.