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Posted by Tom Stork on October 20, 1999 at 15:47:45: In Reply to: Potential Math resource posted by Barb Grover on October 19, 1999 at 13:26:39:
I was particularly interested in viewing the site that had been referred to Barb since my wife, a first grade teacher, has been looking for enrichment activities for her abler students. The I examined sample problem sets for first and eighth graders. They seemed attractive in layout. The first grade problem sheets feature cute illustrations that can be used by students as counters. In addition, the problem sets were already in worksheet form, ready to be printed. Nonetheless, the problems and, ultimately, the site was disappointing. Although the problems seemed to address basic computational competencies appropriate for their respective grade levels, they failed to address any higher level objectives, nor did they invite speculation or investigation of the patterns these problems may represent. The table also includes links to activities called Magic with Numbers that include such serial calculations as Magic 7, The Persistent Number 9, and Numbers in Reverse. Here I was even more disappointed because although interesting properties of numbers were featured in these "magic" tricks, there was no discussion of the underlying patterns or invitation for further exploration. I invite you to contrast the resources from MathStories.com with those available from the Look at what's available in terms of teacher support for students' real investigation of the math underlying puzzles such as the AIMS September Puzzle. It's just one of the monthly puzzles that AIMS has posted over the last four or five years in their Besides the Puzzle Corner, AIMS also has a really impressive set of Teacher Resources. There you'll find an activities database, math history resources, correlations of AIMS activities with State Curricular Competencies (although not yet Ohio's), and a place to share ideas with other teachers. I urge you to give AIMS a looksee.
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