Geometric Math Art, Recovered

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
Geometric pattern by Denise Gaskins

I’ve been updating my old book files to a new publishing program, and in the process discovering anew how often websites change and disappear. So frustrating!

Thankfully, the Internet Archive keeps some things that we can look back at. It doesn’t always work, but today it came to the rescue and let me recover the wonderful workbook from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Islamic Art And Geometric Design, plus some of the pattern pages at the old School of Islamic Geometric Design.

I reference these pages in my Geometric Coloring Designs series (available at my Playful Math Store), so I was glad to find they weren’t lost forever.

Math Art = a great way to spark energy when your students hit the mathematical doldrums.

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How to Think like a School Math Genius

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
Teen student thinking

“The true joy in mathematics, the true hook that compels mathematicians to devote their careers to the subject, comes from a sense of boundless wonder induced by the subject.

    “There is transcendental beauty, there are deep and intriguing connections, there are surprises and rewards, and there is play and creativity.

      “Mathematics has very little to do with crunching numbers. Mathematics is a landscape of ideas and wonders.”

      —James Tanton

      James Tanton has a new website. It looks cool, and it’s a great place to discover the things he’s working on these days.

      But his wonderful, old-fashioned site full of great insights and interesting problems is gone.

      😞 I hate it when some part of the internet that I love disappears. So here’s my attempt to recover one tiny bit of the old site, five tips for creative problem solving through intellectual play.

      Continue reading How to Think like a School Math Genius

      Fun New Math Story

      Posted on by Denise Gaskins
      Characters from Modultown math story

      Hey, look! A new book from the folks at Natural Math, now on Kickstarter:

      Modultown! A Math-Inspired Children’s Book

      Experience a whimsical puzzle hunt in a new fantastic world full of friendship and surprises, from the authors of Funville Adventures.

      When human siblings Emmy and Leo find themselves magically transported to Modultown, they make new friends and combine their different perspectives to solve challenges that flesh out the mechanics of modular arithmetic.

      Playing in Modultown unlocks pathways into number theory, computer science, genetics, and other essential modern fields.

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      Notice, Wonder, Discover: The Foundation of Learning Well

      Posted on by Denise Gaskins
      Notebook on desk, with the words "Notice. Wonder. Discover."

      Most of us were never taught how to teach. And we certainly weren’t taught what to do when NOTHING is working.

      My friend Sonya Post is offering a free orientation course that will help you rethink how learning actually works, how you can stop second-guessing yourself and start seeing real growth.

      I’ve taken the earlier iterations of her course, and I’d recommend it to all parents.

      Truly wonderful insights!

      Find More Information

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      Mental Math: Advanced Addition

      Posted on by Denise Gaskins
      photo of kids having fun with math

      Mental math is doing calculations with our minds, and perhaps with the aid of scratch paper or a whiteboard to jot down notes along the way.

      But we cannot simply transfer the standard pencil-and-paper calculations to a mental chalkboard. That’s far too complicated.

      We still want to follow our basic strategies of using friendly numbers, estimating, and adjusting the answer. So how can we help children do math in their heads as the numbers get bigger and the problems more challenging?

      How might kids figure out a multi-digit addition like 87 + 39?

      Here are three useful strategies…

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      Mental Math: Early Division

      Posted on by Denise Gaskins
      Boy doing mental math calculation

      Mental math is doing calculations with our minds, though we can use scratch paper or whiteboards to make notes as we work.

      Doing mental math, children use the basic principles of arithmetic to simplify problems so they can think about number relationships, mastering the basic structures of how numbers work, the same structures that underlie algebraic reasoning.

      As always, we rely on two key mental-math strategies.

      • Use friendly numbers.
      • Estimate, then adjust.

      Division is the mirror image of multiplication, the inverse operation that undoes multiplication, which means we are scaling numbers down into smaller parts. Important friendly numbers include halves, thirds, and tenths, plus the square numbers and any multiplication facts the student happens to remember.

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