This is the first time I ever hosted a blog carnival so please bear with me.
While reading the posts submitted to this month's Math Teachers at Play blog carnival, I was struck by how visualization is very important in teaching math, and just math in general. I was happy to read all the "visualization" posts since my recent interest is exactly in visual representations and how they help in learning, especially learning math.
For instance, Alexander Bogomolny gives us a very intriguing geometric / visualization puzzle:Wrapping a Cube posted at CTK Insights. I love all sorts of puzzles, and this was no exception. First I didn't read the instructions properly, so I found a solution by bending not on the lines. But then, after rereading the instructions, I was stuck for a while... Have a go and try to solve it!
Guillermo P. Bautista Jr. shows us how to visually represent multiplication of fractions:Multiplication of Fractions Mathematics and Multimedia posted at Mathematics and Multimedia. I really like this one... easy to follow logic and great diagrams. I'll keep this up my sleeve when I have to teach fraction multiplication.
Another great visualization post was on how to visually represent binomial multiplication by Climbing Gecko: Visualizing (a+b)² posted at Intellectual Ramblings. It just goes to show you that great things come from: 1. linking visualizations and math, 2. playing around with toys.
Erlina Ronda presents » The Counting Principle, Pascal’s Triangle, and Powers of 2 » Mathematics for Teaching posted at Mathematics for Teaching. This is a great lesson plan combining Pascal's triangle, combinations, and permutations, along with many visualizations on how to solve this puzzle/problem.
And what's a visualization math segment without geometry: Mags gives a comprehensive review of geometry with many diagrams and videos Ms. D's Chapter 1 - Geometry Foundation posted at Ms D Geometry. Very complete and well done!
A few of the submitted posts don't fall under the visualization heading, but are also very interesting and worth a look:
Jason Dryer investigates a common yet interesting student error while adding polynomials:Focus on fixing bugs rather than overwriting procedures posted at The Number Warrior. I agree with Jason in that understanding what the student misunderstood and "debugging" their misconception is way more effective than reteaching the material. By understanding student thinking we become better math teachers, as we can personalize the teaching... otherwise the student might as well learn from a textbook!
IMACS touched upon a very important topic in education: Learning to Fail Well posted at IMACS Blog. Students often need to fail in order to learn. Making mistakes is very much part of the learning process. I was very impressed with this blog post, and I suggest any parent to read it and be inspired.
William Dvorak introduces us to Project Euler, then shows a very inventive way of solving one of the problems from this website (problem #67):Project Euler and a Divide and Conquer Algorithm | Deterministic Programming posted at Deterministic Programming. This post takes me back to university, when I actually new a lot of math. I remember I had to do sorting algorithms (although I don't remember the divide and conquer one)... not so much now - how much I already forgot :(
I hope you'll have as much fun as I had in reading all these great posts. Until next time...
Comments
Visualization is indeed very
on Sat, 11/19/2011 - 14:29
Visualization is indeed very important in mathematics. Thank you for including my post in this special collection.
If you REALLY like exercising
on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 14:11
If you REALLY like exercising your brain, figuring things 'round and 'round till you explode then you must solve puzzles. It's very exciting and interesting.
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I completely agree with you
on Tue, 09/18/2012 - 08:22
I completely agree with you students learn more by making mistakes.Failure should be taken as a key of success as it helps to learn more.Various techniques shared by you for teaching Maths is really very easy to explain and this will help the students to understand the concepts clearly.
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Thank you for hosting the
on Sat, 11/19/2011 - 20:21
Thank you for hosting the carnival! I'm afraid several posts got lost from the blog carnival site again (guess I need to keep a closer eye on them), but the articles you did get look very interesting. I really appreciate your work in putting this together.
i like math very much. thank
on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 11:42
i like math very much. thank you for organizing such events
Maths is really dangerous
on Fri, 03/16/2012 - 09:39
Maths is really dangerous subject to few weak students and it becomes a mind set and fear for such particular subject. But i think if we make them learn something this innovative way with creative ideas way then subject will become easy for them to memorize.
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Math has always been tough on
on Sat, 04/21/2012 - 08:39
Math has always been tough on me. I mean people who are always miscalculating we understand what I what to say. I must visualization is really important in teaching math. The carnival was really nice helping to understand and especially learning math.
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Maths is very nice subjects,
on Wed, 01/16/2013 - 15:29
Maths is very nice subjects, some people like it or some don't because this subject requires consistency and practice. intermec ck3 computers
It is highly required for
on Sat, 03/24/2012 - 07:02
It is highly required for weak students to know such kinds of short cuts for solving the difficult problems in maths. These tricks will surely will be helpful for them.wall mounted coat rack
Visualization is the creation
on Fri, 08/24/2012 - 07:47
Visualization is the creation of a mental image. It is a powerful technique that can be used to improve students. The visual representation was sometimes considered a technique not suitable to represent information, in mathematics; this depends upon the specificity of every visual representation.
Regards
Mark
Project Euler has gained
on Mon, 11/19/2012 - 09:45
Project Euler has gained notability and popularity worldwide. This is really fantastic project. The project attracts adults and students interested in mathematics and computer programming.
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Arina said really true that
on Tue, 04/03/2012 - 12:21
Arina said really true that visualization is very important and thank you for hosting the carnival. I never thought such events are taking place.
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Thanks, I'm currently being
on Sat, 09/15/2012 - 05:47
Thanks, I'm currently being trained in traditional mathematics.Your brain does math and loves it in deed. You see, when you hear a song you are listening to the beats and its variations.
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I've just graduated the
on Fri, 08/17/2012 - 11:01
I've just graduated the mathematical faculty of one University. And the main problem during my education at University was that it's very difficult to learn things that you can't imagine. Thank you for this post. I absolutely agree with you.
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