Thinking about Mathematics ‘stories’ reminded me of ‘John and Betty’s Journey into Complex Numbers‘ which has always made me smile.
Category Web2.0
Embed Google Docs into WordPress
An excellent new feature for WordPress users was announced recently. It is now possible to embed documents created with Google Docs into a WordPress blog.
(For more on Google Docs – see this page)
To try out this new feature – here is a form I created to help students think about the personal learning and thinking skills they are using in Mathematics.
Obviously this was not originally designed for a narrow column such as this but the whole process is very easy – an outstanding addition to WordPress. Thank you Happiness Engineers!
Fun Facts
WolframAlpha launched Fun Facts on Twitter in 2010, and published fun facts until 2016. Note that you can read these facts even if you are not a Twitter user.
WolframAlpha has written on this in their own blog.
On the subject of Mathematics Fn Facts – a reminder of these sites mentioned in earlier posts.
Tanya Khovanova’s Number Gossip
Online Whiteboards & Feedback
One of the most popular posts on this blog is the one on online whiteboards which I keep updated. Note with Screenr now retired as you will see in the updated post, Screencastomatic will allow you to achieve the same result as seen here – easily create a screencast and upload to YouTube.
This was part of some feedback on a homework task (Tethered Goat – see nrich version here).
Presentations
There is some good advice on the web on presentations, a subject close to teachers’ hearts.
Scroll down the page for free resources and useful links.
Sacha Chua writes so well on learning. Her hand-drawn presentations make a refreshing change.
If you like the hand-drawn style, Betsy Streeter’s Ten Great Uses For a Pencil and How to Draw What’s Not There!
These are such a good reminders that it is the content that matters not the tools.
Sacha’s comment ‘Paper is the New PowerPoint’ reminds me of using some of the excellent ways of writing Mathematics online with a graphics tablet which is a great way to respond to student queries. I think for me an online whiteboard tool is the new LaTeX!
An excellent reminder that PowerPoint is just a tool from Clear Presentation Design
From Alexei Kapterev: Death by PowerPoint (and how to fight it).
From Jessedee: You Suck at PowerPoint
Other useful resources:
Nancy Duarte – Slidedocs
Free (exceptionally high quality) Duarte Presentation Software Templates
Free Technology for Teachers (Richard Byrne) : some presentation advice.
From Lifehacker – How to Create Presentations that Don’t Suck
……and of course: Presentation Zen – Garr Reynolds
Finally for your amusement Don McMillan’s original ‘Life After Death by PowerPoint‘