SamizdatMath

Are you teaching the quadratic formula to your students? Are you teaching it the same way you learned it in high school? Or maybe college? Or maybe on the street somewhere? Then you're probably teaching it WRONG AF. It's okay: I've been teaching the quadratic formula WRONG AF for decades. I didn't know it, but I was. It wasn't until one day I was working with a group of my college students and made a mistake that I had a realization: we've been teaching the quadratic formula WRONG AF for decades

Cuisenaire Rods and Algebra, you ask? Yes, Cuisenaire Rods AND Algebra go together! Like beans and cornbread, rods and algebra go together! Rods and algebra go hand in hand like bagels and lox. Like cornbeef and cabbage. Like pot cakes and molasses! Like liver onions, so do Cuisenaire Rods and Algebra! Like wieners and sauerkraut, you need to use Cuisenaire Rods and Algebra! Has this convinced you? Okay, here's how it works: one of the things that consistently trips up our algebra students in

This is a collection of 36 factor riddles to help your students prepare to factor quadratic equations.

This is the best investigation you can find anywhere which links exponential growth with paper folding. It includes background information about the investigation, and uses charts and tables to keep track of how tall a piece of paper would be if you folded it in half up to 60 times. The activity works with both customary and metric units and has answer keys for both. This investigation also looks at the formula that was derived by Britney Gallivan, a high school junior who actually proved that

This is the same as Number Logic Puzzles Silly Creatures with a Valentines theme, which should really motivate your students! This is a fun little booklet that your students can put together in about 3 minutes and we’ll really give them some fun working logically - and because this is something you purchased from me, your kids will also have a chance to make their own puzzles to share with one another. Ain’t that cool? Comes in b//w and color booklets - the color booklets have been formatted t

Here's another mathematics investigation straight out of the SamizdatMath laboratory. Yes, the same place which brought you " How to Hack Your Burrito," " What's the Best Way to Fit a 15' Fishing Pole in a 10' Box?" AND "WTF is Survivor Bias and Why Should I Care About It?" now brings you a complete investigation into the age old problem "what's the fastest way to cook 3 steaks in a pan that only holds 2 at a time?" This is a problem that has been circulating around, and it has a fun solution,

First of all, it should not be called the "Pythagorean Theorem," because Pythagoras had nothing to do with inventing or discovering it. The Chinese knew about it hundreds of years before, and the Mesopotamians? Like 1300 years before! Zip Zap.... Okay, this is a really REALLY cool activity that uses the "Pythagorean" Theorem to solve a very important question: how can you ship an 11 foot fishing pole, when the shipping box can't be any more than 10 feet in length? Take some time to scratch you

This is the same as Number Logic Puzzles Silly Creatures with a Chanukah holiday theme, which should really motivate your students! This is a fun little booklet that your students can put together in about 3 minutes and we’ll really give them some fun working logically - and because this is something you purchased from me, your kids will also have a chance to make their own puzzles to share with one another. Ain’t that cool? Comes in b//w and color booklets - the color booklets have been forma

This is the same as Number Logic Puzzles Silly Creatures with a Christmas holiday theme, which should really motivate your students! This is a fun little booklet that your students can put together in about 3 minutes and we’ll really give them some fun working logically - and because this is something you purchased from me, your kids will also have a chance to make their own puzzles to share with one another. Ain’t that cool? Comes in b//w and color booklets - the color booklets have been for

This is the same as Number Logic Puzzles Silly Creatures with a winter theme, which should really motivate your students! This is a fun little booklet that your students can put together in about 3 minutes and we’ll really give them some fun working logically - and because this is something you purchased from me, your kids will also have a chance to make their own puzzles to share with one another. Ain’t that cool? Comes in b//w and color booklets - the color booklets have been formatted to g

This is a winter themed variation of Silly Creatures Number Logic Puzzles, a fun little booklet that your students can put together in about 3 minutes and features 2 kinds of objects to decipher. This version involves three different objects to interpret, which will really give them something fun to do and most likely fry their brains by working logically - and because this is something you purchased from me, your kids will also have a chance to make their own puzzles to share with one another.

Note: this is the same as the "winter theme three part number logic puzzles," but with "silly icons" instead of "winter icons." This is a sequel to Silly Creatures Number Logic Puzzles, a fun little booklet that your students can put together in about 3 minutes and features 2 kinds of objects to decipher. This version involves three different objects to interpret, which will really give them something fun to do and most likely fry their brains by working logically - and because this is somethin

This is a fun little booklet that your students can put together in about 3 minutes and we’ll really give them some fun working logically - and because this is something you purchased from me, your kids will also have a chance to make their own puzzles to share with one another. Ain’t that cool? Comes in b//w and color booklets - the color booklets have been formatted to give you a jolt of color without using up all your ink! There are also single page and double page formats to save enough mo

This is a collection of 8 different Thanksgiving Themed "matrix addition" puzzles which use funky symbols as clues to figure out the answers. They were designed for 2nd graders, but you could use them with advanced first graders, or just throw them at some third and fourth graders to see how they react. They're sort of algebraic puzzles that you can have a lot of fun with and who doesn't like fun? Comes in color and b/w for your printing pleasure! What makes this really cool is that I also in

This is a collection of 8 different "matrix addition" puzzles which use funky symbols as clues to figure out the answers. They were designed for 2nd graders, but you could use them with advanced first graders, or just throw them at some third and fourth graders to see how they react. They're sort of algebraic puzzles that you can have a lot of fun with and who doesn't like fun? What makes this really cool is that I also included a set of "blank" puzzles which your students can customize, share

"On a bad day, I have no ideas. On a good day, I have a lot of wrong ideas. At least with wrong ideas, I can mix them together and come up with a right answer." That's the idea behind this number puzzle, which I've intentionally designed to be really tricky and frustrating (at least, it was for the 3rd through 6th graders I tried it on.) The relationship between the three columns appear to be arbitrary, but there actually is some method to the madness: the students should be encouraged to come

This is a collection of 10 different algebra puzzles that use 3 different variables which are represented as rectangles, triangles and hexagons. Yes, we know that "adult" algebra uses X, Y and Z, but since this is designed to be appealing for our younger students (and because abstraction is still tough for them) I've used these geometric shapes instead. I've also limited the kinds of numbers students use by focusing on using 0 - 9 digit cards. This is so your students will not get frustrated wh

This is a collection of 12 different division reasoning problems that require your students to understanding through written explanations. No, it doesn't mean your students are going to explain the long division algorithm by writing about the steps they took to solve the problem. First of all, who cares? Second of all, it doesn't really show a mastery of the concept of division; it only shows they have memorized the steps in an algorithm that is totally unnecessary to memorize in an age of calcu

What's a tokidoki, you ask? Well, there are several varieties, and basically they are born with a certain number of segments on their body, and then grow new ones over the year. Some are born with 3 segments and add 4 more each year, some are born with 2 segments and add 5 more each year. There are lots of different types of tokidokies and they all grown using different patterns. This activity uses tokidokis to promote the idea of using patterns to solve a problem. If you have a tokidoki that w

Should you be teaching algebra to young students? YES! When should you be doing it? NOW! Why should you teach algebra to young students? Because it will challenge them while reinforcing their basic computation skills. Compared to those boring "practice sheets" you're using, algebraic problem solving presents a greater challenge and is also more motivational, because your students know they're doing something hard, not just repeating an exercise over and over and over and over again....