Maths Bookmarks

Context

It’s been a while since I’ve last published a blog post. This is partly because I have instead been updating the website (see: Maths Closet and Science Lab). I’ve also stalled in terms of completing all the draft posts I wrote last year. For now though, Sydney is back in another COVID-19 lockdown, just in time for my holiday break from university.

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What will I be doing this month?

Over the last few years whilst studying to become a teacher, I’ve developed a backlog of random internet bookmarks for Mathematics and Science resources, as well as for more general tools that might be useful for teachers. As I continue to develop the website, I will also periodically take some time to share some of my bookmarks (today: for mathematics resources I thought might be interesting or useful – mostly interesting).

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Websites you should regularly check

Not much explanation needs to be given for the following websites – these websites contain a multitude of resources worth perusing for ideas, activities or worksheets. Consider this section as a reminder that these places exist and that you should consider regularly checking them out for updates:

1. NRICH (University of Cambridge)
2. Maths300 (recently updated, maintained by the AAMT – also consider visiting Top Drawer and the Task Centre Kit for Aboriginal Students)
3. youcubed (Jo Boaler)
4. dy/dan (Dan Meyer) and Three-Act Math Tasks
5. Illuminations (maintained by the NCTM)
6. MANSW (Mathematical Association of NSW)
7. MathsLinks (resources) and MathsKit (templates)
8. mr barton maths
9. Estimation 180 (Andrew Stadel)
10. Which One Doesn’t Belong
11. Australian Maths Trust
12. Better Explained
13. nzmaths
14. The Mathenaeum
15. Inquiry Maths (Andrew Blair)
16. Mathigon
17. Australian Bureau of Statistics
18. Scootle
19. Robert Kaplinsky
20. National Library of Virtual Manipulatives (Interactive materials)
21. Geogebra Materials (and Desmos for Teachers)
22. Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute
23. Wolfram Demonstrations Project (Interactive Wolfram notebooks)
24. Project Euler (Mathematics problems)
25. Chalkdust Magazine (Magazine for those interested in Mathematics)

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Websites of Particular Interest

1. Math Open Reference: From the author, the Math Open Reference Project is “A free interactive math textbook on the web. Initially covering high-school geometry.” The website hosts various interactive tools and animations that may prove helpful in terms of providing students with visual references that they can manipulate and experiment with (example: check out their applet about Interior Angles of a Traversal).
2. What’s Special About This Number?: A catalogue of interesting facts of (most) numbers from 0 to 9999. Primarily for novelty – consider having a number of the day and discussing the fact listed (alternatively, challenge students to come up with their own).
3. Googolplex Written Out: 10⁹⁴ volumes of books that together write out the entirety of the number googolplex 10^googol (available in pdf form).
4. Number Constellations: An interactive tool for exploring prime spirals (see: Ulam spiral for further details).
5. Maths and Science Animations: Mathematical animations produced by Matthen (see: Visual proof that the sum of the negative powers of 4 = 1/3).
6. Cut the Knot: A vast collection of problems, games, puzzles and information about various mathematical subjects, including algebra, geometry and probability (example: Monty Hall Dilemma). If you do not mind installing Java (or if you have experience using GeoGebra), consider also browsing these interactive activities. Rest in peace, Alexander Bogomolny.
7. Image: A visual proof of the expansion of (a + b)ⁿ for n = 1 to 4. A similar image for proving that the sum of the negative powers of 2 equals 1 (using triangles).
8. Algebra Rules: A concise summary of basic algebraic rules, with accompanying descriptions and examples.
9. Image: A diagram that shows the relationship between SI base units and SI derived units with special names and symbols.
10. Turner’s Graph of the Week: Weekly graphs that challenge students to critically analyse graphs – consider finding your own graphs or infographics (e.g. from recent news articles, see: The Guardian’s Data section or ABC News Story Lab), and use the format provided by Turner to scaffold students’ analysis of them.
11. GapMinder: Challenge students’ preconceptions about the world whilst also exploring data and percentages. Consider also viewing Dollar Street, a website showcasing the everyday lives of people across many income levels.
12. MacTutor: A website hosting thousands of biographies, essays and materials related to mathematics.
13. Earliest Uses of Various Mathematical Symbols: Consider browsing through here in case your students are interested in the origins of certain mathematical symbols (e.g. why the natural logarithm is notated as ln). Also consider browsing Jeff’s websites regarding Mathematical Words and Ambiguous Mathematical Terms.
14. Maths Inside: Developed by the University of Technology Sydney, the website hosts many resources and lessons based around actual CSIRO projects (example: Stargazing with the SKA).
15. Nepal Constitution: Included is a set of (geometric) instructions for constructing the Nepalese flag. For a demonstration, consider watching Numberphile’s video, ‘The Most Mathematical Flag‘.
16. Phase Plane Plotter: Tool for producing plots of systems of differential equations.
17. Formulator Tarsia: Tool for creating Tarsia puzzles. Consider also giving students KenKen, Futoshiki or Fubuki puzzles.
18. Byrne’s Euclid: A colourised version of Euclid’s Elements, based on Oliver Byrne’s (1847) series of books.
19. STEM Lessons for Educators: Space-related activities and lessons developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (example: How Far Away Is Space?).
20. Against All Odds – Inside Statistics: Television series (each episode ~10 min in length) focusing on concepts from statistics, such as Standard Deviation, Correlation, and Random Variables.
21. Explorables: A collection of mathematical games and interactive activities – I particularly liked their Graph Theory and Seeing Theory (Probability) interactives. They are user-friendly and fun to experiment with.
22. Eratosthenes Experiment: Annual event (22 March) that schools can participate in – following Eratosthenes, the goal for students is to calculate the circumference of the Earth.
23. Academo: “A collection of interactive, educational demos and tools” – try out the ‘Estimating Pi using the Monte Carlo Method‘ interactive, as well as the ‘Statistics of Rolling Dice‘ demonstration. Interactives for Engineering, Geography, Music and Physics are also available.
24. We Use Maths: Developed by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, the website aims to highlight the many examples of careers where mathematics is embedded and actively applied in meaningful ways. Biographies of individuals from particular industries are available for reading.
25. Choose Your Own Statistics: Website resource developed by the ABC that allows users to either download Big Picture infographics (e.g. for topics such as Life Expectancy and Weekly Wages), or alternatively, to select particular data and download the resulting graph for use as an image.

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