A recent post on an NCTM discussion group asked about tools to help students visualize and understand addition and subtraction of integers. We wanted to make a visualization tool for students that they could use in multiple ways. The result is the Web Sketchpad model below (and here). Page one focuses on addition while … Continue Reading ››
Category Archives: Educational Technology
Interactive Array Explorations
Arrays can be enormously helpful tools for helping young learners to visualize multiplication. Early work with arrays also sets the stage for more advanced mathematics, like binomial multiplication. In this blog post, I present several interactive arrays built with Web Sketchpad as part of the Dynamic Number project.
The interactive array model below (and Continue Reading ››
Fifth Graders Investigate a Mathematical Code
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 ››
Binomial Multiplication and Concreteness Fading
I was delighted that Daniel recently posted our Binomial Multiplication sketches in Web Sketchpad format. I thought about those sketches when I noticed a fairly new myNCTM thread on "When and How do we phase out the body in math education?"
This thread raises a very important question for us as … Continue Reading ››
Binomial Multiplication and Factoring Games
The four Web Sketchpad activities below from our Dynamic Number project provide a sequenced collection of challenges and games that develop an area model approach to binomial multiplication and factoring. You can click any of the images to open the interactive websketches on a separate page.
Dynamic Algebra Tiles, Part One
In the first websketch, … Continue Reading ››
Multiplication Arrays
Algebra Cross Number Puzzles
In my previous post, I wrote about cross number puzzles—puzzles that mix arithmetic and logic to introduce students to place value, commutativity, and the addition and subtraction algorithms.
Now, I'd like to present a variant of cross number puzzles that adds some algebra to the mix. Below (and here on its own page) are … Continue Reading ››
Cross Number Puzzles
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 ››
Exploring Multiples on a Dynamic Number Grid
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 … Continue Reading ››
Digging Deep Into Varignon’s Theorem
In the interactive Web Sketchpad model below (and here on its own page), ABCD is an arbitrary quadrilateral whose midpoints form quadrilateral EFGH. Drag any vertex of ABCD. What do you notice about EFGH?
The midpoint quadrilateral theorem, attributed to the French mathematician Pierre Varignon, is relatively new in the canon of geometry theorems, dating to 1731. Mathematics … Continue Reading ››