Mr Taylor is a Secondary Maths Teacher who, for 25+ years, taught maths to 11 to 20 year olds of all levels and abilities in five different countries. He has also tutored in the following curricula - Australian, American, English, IB. email: mathsmethods@live.co.uk
This section is for teachers & in here you will find many resources that I have made or adapted that are engaging and the students love. It gets them thinking, talking and writing about the maths. Sometimes a solution might not come to them - it is the development of mathematical ideas that is important.
CONGRATULATIONS YOU FOUND THE BUILDING THAT THE CURVE BELONGS TO. DESIGNED BY ZAHA HADID. Heydar Aliyev Centre, Baku, Azerbaijan
Heydar Aliyev Centre is here
Copy the picture, paste it into report, enlarge and answer this question so that you can complete your report - What is the sense of the equation that models the curve of the building?. Talk about the accuracy of your results. Also use Excel to reproduce the graph for terms from 0 to 10 to put into your report. 0.16x^2-1.6x+4 (MTM) |
Notes to the teachers: The worksheets below are for an authentic assessment for MYP Grade 8 extended. The students were given some points and the had to figure out the curve by using inductive reasoning and simultaneous equations. They then typed in their equation into the computer, which brings them to this page. They could then follow the links to explore more of Zaha Hadid's architecture and the beautiful curves of the buildings she designs.
The worksheets for this coming soon 0.16x^2-1.6x+4 (MTM) |
0.16x^2-1.6x+4 (MTM);
4/25x^2-1 3/5x+4 (MTM); NOTES FOR STUDENTS: Copy the picture, paste it into a Word (or similar document, enlarge and answer these questions (1 is a must, 2, 3 & 4 are optional- 1) Describe the sense of the equation that models the curve of the building. 2) Write down the coordinates of the y-intercept, x-intercept and the minimum point. 3) If the graph was moved so that the minimum point is at (6,0), would the equation change? Explore. 4) Follow these links to explore more of Zaha Hadid's designs. Zaha Hadid 1 Zaha Hadid 2 |
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1. Numbers by Poetry is apart of mathsyear2000 initiative. Follow the link to read 100 poems - one each for the first 100 numbers. Great for Poetry Week.
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Bringing the outside into the classroom.
This activity relates to a replica of a tall ship. The areas of maths covered are – converting units from imperial to metric and the other way around, estimation of space, number, fractions, ratio, length, area, volume, upper bound &lower bound & proportion. |
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Tangrams plus many other activities that bring together many topics for years 7 to 10. I made this to celebrate Chinese New year when I was teaching in Beijing.
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2. Seven Circles - a fantastic activity that stretches the students ability to discover something and explain why their discovery is true. It has activities for years 7 to 11 ranging from properties of shapes, through perimeter and area to vectors.
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3. Quantity Surveyor - is a brilliant hands on real life activity.
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4. Two Piece Tangram - a great activity that can bring in perimeter, area, ratio, similarity, angles, properties and lots of proving how the student knows what they have is true
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5. Equations of Quadratics. You will need Geometer's Sketch Pad for this. Note: unfortunately the file is rather large and so I can only upload one of them. If you want a copy of all 6 curves in the PPT, I can share this through Dropbox (to contact me see the above email address)
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6. 3 Coins - will get the students talking with their partner on how to answer the questions about three coins in a triangle. It involves perimeter, area, estimation, general formulae, ratio, exchange rates.
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7. Loaded Truck - in China they use these massive trucks to shift dirt from building sites (and as an anecdote, they rule the road, such as: driving down bike lanes & running red lights). Anyway there is estimation, percentages & volume involved in this fun activity.
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8. Follow the links to amazing videos of people working really fast. It should get students engaged and discussing the maths involved. There many ideas to pursue - rates, speed, volume & estimation.
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9. This task has a video that shows the acceleration of the MagLev train in Shanghai, China. It is currently the fastest train in the world (it has been tested to 501km/hr, Wikipedia). The video shows the speed of the train over time and hence makes a good maths investigation for speed, distance, time, velocity and acceleration with their respective graphs.
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10. This task is dead simple - ask the students to work out the volume of their body.
If the students have no idea how, they can estimate their volume using cylinders. |
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11. The students love making a booklet on a topic that has just been covered (can be used as revision) or as a way to write up something they have researched.
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12. This activity is good fun to make Escher type Tessellations.
Info is on its way. |
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13. Make your own Tarsia puzzles - the one in the picture is a dominoes that the student has to solve.
Here are heaps of puzzles made by Mr Barton's Maths (you need the Tarsia to run it - Tarsia puzzles by David Barton Parents page by David Barton Teachers page by David Barton Pupil's page by David Barton Just for fun page by David Barton |
Tarsia - excellent software for making many different jigsaw puzzlesTarsia can be used by any faculty to make fun puzzles
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14. Have the students make their own puzzle - Here the students were given a blank puzzle and they had to make up their own questions on adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions.
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Tarsia - excellent software for making many different jigsaw puzzles
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15. The Standards Units are a great resource with lots of fantastic tasks that get the students deeply thinking and talking about maths.
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Standards Units - Great for lessons to get the students thinking and discussing maths. You have to join the National Maths Centre, which is a brilliant site.
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16. As we go through these slides write down all the mathematical information that you discover.
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So you have to teach place value but you know the students know it backwards, then get them to explore the binary number system.
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17. Loci & Forest Fires.
Unfortunately climate change has meant the propensity for a forest to burst into flames and become a devastating wild fire has increased - even Europe! Australia has fire towers in their forests and use loci to spot fires. Check it out, find out where the fires are. |
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18. Students love a Treasure Hunt and making their own question for a Treasure Hunt. More information to come.
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This Hansard Debate, on the Quadratic Equation, is very interesting reading.
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I have taken plenty of photos, which are on this site, that you maybe able to use in class. Could be good for other subjects as well.
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David's Poems. These are fun poems, from a previous colleague, to help a student remember certain concepts -
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