Websites for Students
Pythagoras Tree Fractal
Here are some sites that students may use to help them with math concepts and applications. Also included are sites that show the beauty and power of mathematics.
Biographies of Women Mathematicians
Here is a website that can be used to help bring mathematics to life in the classroom. It is especially good for students wanting material for class projects illustrating the numerous achievements of women in the field of mathematics. There are biographical essays or comments on most of the women mathematicians.
California STAR Released Test Questions
Released questions from the 2003-2008 STAR tests. These questions are broken down into clusters, are in a multiple-choice format, and include answers. Students begin preparing for these tests starting at the beginning of the school year.
Cut The Knot, by Alexander Bolomolny
This is a very rich website containing a large amount of mathematical material that has something for everyone. Learning starts from wondering, and another purpose of this site is to serve as a resource for things, simple but curious, related to Mathematics. One popular page on the site provides a large number of interactive games and puzzles and other interesting mathematical miscellany. The site is written at a level which will most probably appeal to teachers of high school/college students. If you are looking for a site with a wide collection of links and fresh approaches to the wonderful world of mathematics, try this one.
Euclid’s Element
Euclid’s Elements form one of the most beautiful and influential works of science in the history of humankind. The Elements have been studied for 24 centuries, and reportedly the publishing popularity of Euclid’s book is exceeded only by that of the Bible. Among the tools used is The Geometry Applet, which is another example of the Java programming language aiding mathematical understanding. Illustrations with the Java applet are provided for all of Euclid’s propositions. You are able to dynamically change the diagrams to enrich the geometric experience. The hypertext cross-references that accompany every proof are also a good resource. Be sure to check out Proposition VI.31 (known to us as the Pythagorean Theorem). It is given in its original generalization.
Fractals, by Cynthia Lanius
Fractals are geometric figures, just like rectangles, circles and squares, but fractals have special properties that those figures do not have. This fractals site is for kids, to help them understand what the weird pictures are all about – that it’s math – and that it’s fun! Every lesson has a print version for classroom use. This site was designed for elementary and middle school students, but anyone can enjoy the java applications and mathematical beauty found here.
Furman University Mathematics Quotation Server
This site contains a vast collection of mathematical quotations culled from many sources. You may conduct a keyword search through the quotation database, which is also organized alphabetically by author. You can download the entire 83-page collection for classroom use. An excellent source for student projects and daily or weekly classroom quotes that illustrate lessons or themes.
The Game of SET
Set, invented by mathematician and computer programmer Marsha J. Falco, is a game of perception and logic, and can be used either for either solitaire or competitive play. This game provides activities involving organizing objects by attribute, and allows students to explore ideas in discrete mathematics. The activities suggested on the website involve mathematics as problem solving, communication, and reasoning. SET encourages your brain to perceive patterns in a new way, and several variations keep you on your toes. At the present time, you can download the shareware version of SET (SETLite) available for Windows 3.1, Win95, Win98, or Mac.
Hotmath
Check out this on-line tutorial that allows students to get step-by-step help solving problems from their textbook by entering the page number and problem number. For now, it’s a free service! Hotmath shows guided step-by-step explanations for the actual homework problems in popular math textbooks for odd-numbered problems only. Hotmath helps students learn math and overcome math anxiety. The tutorial solutions with answers cover textbooks starting in middle school and continuing through algebra, geometry, precalculus, and calculus. Hotmath was created by a group of college professors and high school teachers who see many students become discouraged from continuing with math and science courses because the material seems too difficult.
MacTutor History
This is a well organized and cross referenced archive of mathematicians and mathematics topics. Information is stored and searchable in a variety of ways. There is also a page of famous curves that uses Java applets extensively. To run the applets, you will need a java-capable browser. The site contains both alphabetical and chronological indexes, as well as a list of quotations, chronologies, birthplace maps, female mathematicians, and pictures of famous mathematicians.
The Math Forum at Drexel
The Math Forum is a leading center for mathematics and mathematics education on the Internet. The Math Forum’s mission is to provide resources, materials, activities, person-to-person interactions, and educational products and services that enrich and support teaching and learning in an increasingly technological world. They support their mission by encouraging communication throughout the math community, offering model interactive projects, and making math-related web resources more accessible.
Math Java Applications middle school focus
This web site features a collection of 280 interactive math programs that enable the visitor to manipulate mathematical figures. Animation of the figures helps you grasp the meaning of many important mathematical ideas. Our favorite is the Pythagorean Theorem. At this last page, check out the Pythagoras Tree (2) which allows you to create truly amazing figures based on the Pythagorean Theorem and fractals. You and your students will enjoy changing the shape and seeing the results of your actions!
Mathematics Lessons that Are Fun! by Cynthia Lanius, Executive Director, Center for Excellence and Equity in Education, Rice University.
This website provides more than 20 website activities teachers can use to engage their students in some exciting and interesting topics in mathematics. Tables, graphs, linear functions, real-world problems, fractions, patterns and formulas, ratios, fractals, slope and rates of change, and polyominoes are some of the topics covered.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
You can find here conference and membership information and online publications with plenty of entertaining math activities. Resources are provided for teachers (elementary, middle school, and high school), family, leaders, and researchers. The latest version of the NCTM Standards is also available online. This is a good resource for everyone to have.
Tools from the NCTM Illuminations Project
A huge collection of mathematical applets and lesson plans brought to you by the NCTM! Use these interactive tools to explore standards-based mathematics in engaging ways right in your own classroom. Each applet contains a brief description of its intended purpose and indicates to which grade-level band it applies. These websites may include online, interactive, multimedia math investigations, selected web resources, internet-based lesson plans, interactive math tools, and inquiry on practice. To run the applets, you will need a java-capable browser.