Tag Archives: Dynamic Number

Educational Technology, Elementary Mathematics, Math Software

Fifth Graders Investigate a Mathematical Code

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How much tolerance do you have for puzzlement? When faced with a mathematical conundrum, do you embrace the challenge, or do you feel some trepidation at confronting the unknown? For many of us, an unfamiliar mathematical task is sure to raise our heart rate a beat or two. As teachers, it’s easy to translate these fears … Continue Reading ››
Elementary Mathematics, Math Software

Deducing the “Mystery” Fraction

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Estimation is an important mathematical skill, yet we rarely ask students to make estimates that relate to fractions. As part of the Dynamic Number project, we created a "mystery" fraction challenge  that presents a green point somewhere between 0 and 1 on the number line. The point's location can be represented as a fraction with … Continue Reading ››
Educational Technology, Elementary Mathematics, Math Software

Multiplication Arrays

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I've lost track of how many  parents have quizzed me as to why the mathematics their children are learning is so different from what they remember in school. "Why must my kids study more than one way to multiply? Isn't memorizing their multiplication facts enough?" is a frequent lament. James Tanton, Mathematician in Residence at the … Continue Reading ››
Educational Technology, Elementary Mathematics, Math Software

Cross Number Puzzles

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We live in a golden age of number puzzles. Sudoku is probably the most famous of all modern-day number puzzles, but there are many Japanese puzzles that are also gaining popularity, such as KenKen and Menseki Meiro. In this post, I'd like to introduce a number puzzle for young learners that predates … Continue Reading ››
Educational Technology, Elementary Mathematics, Math Software

Exploring Multiples on a Dynamic Number Grid

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What would it take to build a better number grid for young learners? A typical number grid contains 10 columns with the numbers progressing from 1-10, 11-20, 21-30 and so on, from row to row. We decided to upend this tradition and make a dynamic number grid with Web Sketchpad that allows students to choose … Continue Reading ››
Educational Technology, Elementary Mathematics

Make Your Own Fractions

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In my very first Sine of the Times blog post from January 2012, I wrote about the paucity of fractions that young learners typically encounter in their math classes. While they might construct visual representations of 1/2, 2/3, and 8/12, it's unlikely they'll create models of 7/31, 36/19, or 5/101. That's a shame because without … Continue Reading ››
Educational Technology, Elementary Mathematics, Math Software

Stars, Polygons, and Multiples

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I've always found my collaborations with teachers to be a great inspiration for curriculum development, and that was especially true of my work with Wendy Lovetro, an elementary-school teacher in Brooklyn, NY. Wendy coordinated an after-school math club at her school, and I used the setting as an opportunity to develop and field test Sketchpad activities for the … Continue Reading ››
Educational Technology, Elementary Mathematics, Math Software

Raz’s Magic Multiplying Machine

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Here is a question you don't hear very often: What does it feel like to experience multiplication in our bodies? It's a strange question because our typical exposure to multiplication is numerical. I give you two numbers—say, 3 and 5—and you tell me their product, 15. But multiplication need need not be so static and concrete. Back … Continue Reading ››
Educational Technology, Elementary Mathematics, Math Software

Developing Arithmetic Fluency Through “Drill and Thrill”

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In a previous post, I described the game Chisla, an app that succeeds in making basic arithmetic both challenging and tense.  Given a numerical target, you have just 15 seconds to pick numbers from a list of possible addends that will sum to that value. A target of 10 is no big deal, but when the target escalates … Continue Reading ››

Elementary Mathematics

Adding and Subtracting on a Dynamic Number Chart

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Below is a collection of four interactive number charts that we first introduced in our NSF-funded Dynamic Number project. Start by asking students to press the four directional arrows and to explore what they do. The right arrow, for example, moves the shaded square to the right, and wraps the square to the next row up when you … Continue Reading ››