Activities · 02-26-2014
Numberphile provides imaginative links to videos of creative math content and problems. The blog, Visualizing Math, is a visual delight and run by two amazing high school students in Minnesota. If you need a math definition or formula, try Mathwords which includes information from beginning algebra to calculus. If you know someone who likes playing SET, the challenging game of memory and visual perception, share the SET puzzle of the day. Designed for use with introductory college math courses,...
Resources · 02-20-2014
According to the PBS American Masters series, Jimi Hendrix's early instruments were straw brooms. His inner motivation, sensitivity to sound (and fantastic stage costumes) remind us of the many ways creativity manifests itself. The study of creative personality has applications for all individuals not just those recognized as creatively gifted. Question: What personal qualities correlate with the creative process? Three researchers who study creativity offer the following insight. Their review...
Activities · 02-16-2014
If you have ever experienced "bus duty" as a teacher, you know that paying attention is the primary qualification. However, as I've learned, many children are paying attention too . . . For example, I recall one beautiful spring morning when a kindergarten student slowly stepped off the bus, looked around, and exclaimed, "Glorious." The classmate behind him sighed, "Yes." Both were caught up in the magic of the morning. The bus driver (who probably had a tight schedule) suddenly barked at both...
Books · 02-09-2014
Wilson Bentley was born in the season of winter, and snow, specifically snowflakes, became his passion. A self-educated farmer, from rural Jericho, Vermont, "Snowflake" Bentley became the first person to photograph a snowflake on glass plate in 1885. His innovative process involved capturing snowflakes on black velvet and photographing the image via a camera connected to a microscope. During his lifetime, Bentley amassed over 5,000 snowflake photographs! These images are so beautiful, his book...
Activities · 02-07-2014
A warm-up is a short activity at the start of a lesson to jump-start students' thinking. Warm-ups have many purposes including: to introduce a new topic to reinforce skills to motivate students to prepare students to learn to assess how much students know The following warm-up is a magic square for students who have mastered math addition facts and need a challenge. A magic square is a matrix in which the numbers in every row, column, and diagonal add up to the same number. In this magic...
Museums · 02-03-2014
A few years ago, my fifth grade gifted and talented students completed a unique research project. Specifically, we sent letters to museum directors asking for input about one object, artifact, work of art, or a creative selection from their museum's collections. The selection could be a personal favorite, possess significant cultural relevance, be a "best" example of its kind, tell a story, promote a new idea, or expose students to a new experience. The purpose of the project was to provide...