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Math Teachers at Play #40 via Math Mama Writes…

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
photo by Shannon Kringen

Welcome to the Math Teachers At Play blog carnival — it’s not just for math teachers!

If you like to learn new things and play around with ideas, you’re sure to find something intriguing here. Don’t try to read all 40(!) posts at once; take the time to enjoy browsing. Savor a few posts today, and then come back for another helping tomorrow or next week.

At my fortieth birthday party, I got a few of those gag presents meant to remind me how terribly old I was getting. Math Teachers at Play is less than 40 months old (it used to come out twice a month), but just imagine how many great math posts have been included over the months, in all 40 issues.

Go read the whole thing at Math Mama Writes…

Quotations XXVI: On Teaching Math

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
photo by chrisrobinson1945 via flickr

As I continue to polish the manuscript for my math games book, I’ve been looking for short quotations to put at the beginning of each chapter. I’ve gathered a lot of math quotations over the years, from my own reading and from quote-collection websites. But there’s a problem with using most of these in a book, since to do it right I would have to dig up the original source of each quote and then write a letter to the publisher for permission to use it. And pay a fee that, depending on the publisher’s sense of self-importance, can run into the hundreds of dollars. Bother!

So I went digging around my rss reader to see what sort of inspiration I could find. Bloggers love to be quoted, right? And most of them are happy to give permission via email, which makes my job ever so much easier.

Here are some of the gems I’m considering. I’d love to hear your favorite quotes from math bloggers, too — or favorite passages from your own blog. Please comment!

It’s amazing that this vision of math as “getting to the right answer on your first try” even exists. I have to make, unmake, remake so many mistakes to get where I’m going. I think all mathematicians work that way.

Somehow, a big part of the experience of math is trouble. Frustration is the status quo. But when you get something—the thrill!

— Dan Finkel
Good Mistakes, Constant Mistakes

Continue reading Quotations XXVI: On Teaching Math

Carnival Updates

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

John Cook has posted the Golden Carnival of Mathematics, for your browsing pleasure. The CoM desperately needs hosts, so if you’re willing to take a turn, now is the time to contact Mike Croucher and let him know!

The Mathematics and Multimedia Carnival is coming next Monday to Mathematics, Learning and Web 2.0. If you blog about techy stuff for teaching math, send in a post. Like any blog carnival, the MaMC would be delighted to come to your blog: contact Guillermo Bautista to volunteer.

Math Teachers at Play, the blog carnival about elementary & secondary school mathematics, is now accepting submissions for next week’s edition. The blog carnival server has been glitchy of late, however, so you may want to email your link directly to the host.

And if you speak the languages, you’re sure to enjoy the most recent Carnevale della Matematica or Carnaval de Matemáticas.

Finally, it’s not quite a carnival, but I’ve just discovered and started exploring MathBlogging.org’s Weekly Picks. Enjoy!

Arithmetic Village Books

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Thanks to the generosity of author Kimberly Moore, I am giving away a complete set of the beautiful Arithmetic Village picture books. You can read the first book free online.

When you think of math do you think of a light-hearted fairy tale?

No? Then come and meet some of the delightful characters who live in Arithmetic Village.

Polly Plus collects jewels slowly and methodically, Linus Minus is carefree and loses his. Tina Times and King David Divide… well you’ll see.

The first book offers the overview of the math concepts. These are then demonstrated through the lives of each character. The books are designed to be supported by a manipulative kit [homemade: see video below] with 100 jewels, 10 golden bags, and a treasure chest…

— Kimberly Moore
Proposal: Arithmetic Village

My fantasy-loving daughter Kitten would have been thrilled with this math program when she was little, just as this 6yo girl was. But it’s not just for girls — here is a thorough review by a homeschool mom of two boys.

Visit the Arithmetic Village website to read more about the books and explore the activity pages (links under each topic in the main page menu). Or check out Kim’s YouTube videos for activity ideas.

Continue reading Arithmetic Village Books

Math Teachers at Play #39

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Welcome to the Math Teachers At Play blog carnival — which is not just for math teachers! If you like to learn new things and play around with ideas, you are sure to find something of interest.

Several of these articles were submitted by the bloggers; others were drawn from my overflowing blog reader. Don’t try to skim everything all at once, but take the time to enjoy browsing. Savor a few posts today, and then come back for another helping tomorrow or next week.

Most of the photos below are from the 2010 MAA Found Math Gallery; click each image for more details. Quotations are from Mike Cook’s Canonical List of Math Jokes.

Let the mathematical fun begin…

Continue reading Math Teachers at Play #39

Blog Carnival Broken?

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

It’s been nearly two weeks since the blog carnival website sent me any articles for the MTaP carnival. If you tried to submit a entry for the carnival this week or last, I probably didn’t get it. Feel free to email me directly!

In the meantime, I’ve combed Google Reader and collected a nice assortment of posts for this week’s Math Teachers at Play — but there is still room for more.

Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning via Mario Vittone

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Off-topic for a math blog, but vitally important:

  • Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning

    Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning. They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure? Ask them, “Are you alright?” If they can answer at all – they probably are. If they return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. And parents — children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.

  • It Doesn’t Have to Be Summer

    If something like that seems unlikely to you, then you’d be right. Bucket drownings don’t happen often. But when they do, the parents involved never care how rare the event is for everyone else. Something very similar to the events described above happened just last month in Indiana. There was another bucket drowning reported in Illinois the month before that.

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