SamizdatMath

I love those "cut n' paste" activities, but I wonder how much time is wasted by students who have to cut out all those little pieces along the lines and then maneuver them into place. What good are these activities if the students spend 20 minutes cutting and only 10 minutes "thinking" about math? In my version of a "fractions to percents" cut n' paste, I've designed the pieces to be cut out with a minimum of cutting, so that your students can focus on actually "doing the math." By placing the

I love those "cut n' paste" activities, but I wonder how much time is wasted by students who have to cut out all those little pieces along the lines and then maneuver them into place. What good are these activities if the students spend 20 minutes cutting and only 10 minutes "thinking" about math? In my version of a "fractions to decimals" cut n' paste, I've designed the pieces to be cut out with a minimum of cutting, so that your students can focus on actually "doing the math." By placing the

Ben and Ilene are having an argument: they are looking at a number line with a 0 on one end, and 1 million on the other end. The question is: where would 1 thousand be? Ben & Ilene have different insights into the problem: Ben says that 1,000 is a large number and so is a million, so it must be close to that side. Ilene says that 1 thousand is much smaller than 1 million, and it belongs closer to 0. Is either of them correct, or is one of them "more correct" than the other? I've included 5 exam