The Teacher Toolbox » Problem Solving

Tangrams & Stop Motion Animation

Adrian — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 07:53:43 +0000

I believe that there are only a few things that are certain in the lives of people and one of those things is that they will have to solve problems.

In this activity the students could only animate their solutions once they had solved the tangram puzzles.

Email Newsletter Update + Moving Schools

Adrian — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:58:54 +0000

The company that was looking after my email newsletter has decided not to continue offering their free service & as a result I’ve been looking for new options.

Last night I sent out my first newsletter with a piece of software hosted on my website and so far it seems to have worked fine.

Tonight I’m sorting out all the broken links to the subscription service and should have it all fixed in an hour or two. Do let me know if you find a broken link.

Secondly, I’ve noticed with the end of the school year here in Oz many people have moved on and will need to resubscribe if you have used your school account. Please pass this info around your collegues.

Cheers

Adrian

PS I’m going to get the new email subscription page working well first and then make it look pretty

Roman Numerals – Webquest? Scavenger Hunt?

Adrian — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:33:32 +0000

At the moment I’m spending a bit of time each day trying to build a website to make the learning of Roman Numerals just a little more interesting than a worksheet. My plan is to include colourful illustrations, interesting facts about the number system and real world places the system is used. I also plan to include a little humour e.g.

Q – How do you cut an empire in half?
A – With a pair of caesars

The site currently has content relating to: origins of the number system, use in copyright, naming kings, milestones, clocks, gladiators, famous battles, why on buildings, why we learn about them & the founding of Rome. I’m thinking of throwing some destruction in e.g. Pompii & the Fire of Rome to keep the punters interested.

As of today I’ve planned about XX pages & have illustrated VII If you have any tried and true lessons or roman jokes that might make this concept a little more interesting, feel free to email them to me. I’m hoping to have the site ready by the end of November.

cheers

Adrian

Quest Atlantis Training

Adrian — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 04:29:29 +0000

I’ve been looking for an interesting immersive world for a while to get my son involved in and I think I might have finally found it is Quest Atlantis.

Quest Atlantis is a multi-user 3d learning environment for students. In the environment students participate in quests. These quests appear to be organised around the themes of: Social Responsibility, Compassionate Wisdom, Creative Expression, Diversity Affirmation, Environmental Awareness, Healthy Communities & Personal Agency.

Before a teacher can implement QA in their classrooms they have to participate in 4 professional development sessions. I’ve signed up for the training and installed the software. The training takes place via Skype and starts Tuesday night.

I’ll let you know how it goes. I’ve heard that it is heaps of fun. Maybe you could sign up & join in.

Cheers

Adrian

A New Problem to Solve

Adrian — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:55:49 +0000

I love bringing new puzzles to class. I focus on the most approprate strategy e.g. ‘constant manipulation’ is probably going to work best for you with this puzzle then give the kids about 20 minutes to try and solve it.

While the kids are working on the puzzle I model trying to solve the puzzle myself on an overhead projector. I put the pieces on the panel, slip on my sun glasses and manipulate the pieces constantly and try to create a square

Once the 20 minutes is over the pieces of the puzzle go into envelopes and are kept in desks. The kids are encouraged to take the puzzles home to frustrate parents. Heaps of fun for the whole learning community. hehehe

Have Fun

Adrian

Improving Navigation – Math Resources

Adrian — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 13:44:53 +0000

In the beginning adrianbruce.com was a means for me to put the stuff I use with my classes online for the world to use so people don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Now, as time goes by, I’ve become aware that the navigation of the site is (insert nice word for become very difficult).

So at the moment I’m working on putting a ‘google search field’ on each page as well as ‘breadcrumb’ navigation i.e. at the top of each page you’ll see – adrianbruce.com (which will get you back to the homepage) / Math ( which will get you back to the Math Page ) and then the page you are on.

Hopefully this will enable people to find their way around my teaching resources a little more easily.

That said, today I’ve updated lots of stuff… Feel free to check out and use it with your kids…

The calculator game

Place Value game

Olympic Diving

Addition Doubles

& Place Value Charts - Thousands, Millions, Billions, Trillions, Quadrillions

catch ya soon

Adrian

New Problem Solving Activity – Traversable Networks Part 2

Adrian — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:35:46 +0000

I love having examples of traversable networks up around the walls of my classrooms. It is so cool to watch students try and solve them.

Tonight’s addition has a hint that may lead the students to discovering Euler’s rule for traversable networks.

Here is the new problem and just in case you missed them, here are the older problems.

Have fun with these.

Adrian

Hexagonal Prism

Adrian — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:55:10 +0000

and now for the hexagonal prism net.

Octagonal Pyramid Net

Adrian — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:59:33 +0000

… and here is an octagonal pyramid net.

Adrian

Heptagonal Pyramid Net

Adrian — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:54:47 +0000

Tonight’s addition to the set is a heptagonal pyramid.