Learning Mathematics

Struggling with Mathematics? – Try Math Lesson Plans

Admin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 08:32:10 +0000

Nowadays teachers provide online classrooms that offer lessons and classes on a wide variety of topics covering all subjects taught in a regular school. Students can get special classes sitting at home through the internet. It is one of the most important subjects that a student learns in his school life. The Math lesson plans are available in a variety of modules and forms. These math lesson plans are designed keeping in mind everyone’s needs. Mostly, these websites also provide a teacher who guides the students with their math lesson plans every step of the way. Other features commonly seen are virtual classrooms where the student can interact with the teacher face to face and sometimes even with other students and this greatly eases the process of learning mathematics. Teachers can easily publish their original materials such as lesson plans, presentations, projects, exams, tests and many other things.

This Poor Peasant Changed the Direction of His Entire Country by Teaching His Children the Bible

Admin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:03:15 +0000

You’ve probably never heard of Vicente Menchu. He was a poor farmer from the mountain region of Guatemala. He lived in the tiny village of El Quiche (pronounced kee-chay). And didn’t think he would ever touch the world.

In the late 1970s, when the Guatemalan government began seizing land owned by his fellow villagers, Vicente talked all the people of his village into banding together. His fight against unfair treatment of peasants spread rapidly to other villages.

By 1980, they took their cause to the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala City, where Vicente was killed by government troops.

His influence never left Guatemala during his lifetime. But it didn’t have to. Vicente had enormous influence on his children. El Quiche had no schools, so he trained his children at home. He was a big believer in education and taught his kids thorough lessons in the Scriptures. They never had the opportunity to learn physics, chemistry, or advanced mathematics. The academic lessons were fairly basic.

Instead, he taught his kids right from wrong and about the teachings of Jesus and other figures from the Bible.

When Guatemala’s civil war began, many of the villagers were involved in the fight. But his daughter, Rigoberta, decided to fight in a different way. And this is where Vicente’s influence had its greatest impact.

Rigoberta traveled to the U.S. in 1982 as an exile and began to work for Guatemalan peace. She lobbied at the United Nations for the next 10 years trying to get the international community to work for peace in her home country.

“I am like a drop of water on a rock,” she wrote in her book Crossing Borders. “After drip, drip, dripping in the same place, I begin to leave a mark, and I leave my mark in many people’s hearts.”

Slowly, religious and human rights groups began to join her cause and the UN finally stood up and took notice. Rigoberta won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. At the age of 33, she was the youngest person ever to win the award. And, more importantly, the civil war in Guatemala ended three months after she won the award.

Rigoberta used the $1.2 million award to set up a foundation to help keep the peace in Guatemala. Her work has helped relations between the government and the peasants for the last 15 years. And Rigoberta credits what she learned from her father’s Bible lessons as the inspiration for her work. The persistence, patience, and the power of God to use small people to triumph over powerful people helped her see that her father’s death — and teaching — was not in vain.

By: Steve Kroening

Teaching Qualities Desired By All School Districts

Admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:16:43 +0000

Each school district is looking for their teachers to possess specific qualities, regardless of the subject that is being taught. If you are looking for and want to land a new teaching position, make certain that these qualities are conveyed in your resume and/or cover letter:

Passionate about the subject. Ability to reach out to, support, and motivate all students. Talent for differentiating instruction. Demonstrated capability to develop creative lesson plans that promote hands-on learning. Help students develop problem solving, socialization, and other key skills. Ability to increase literacy rates and instil a love for reading and writing.

Why these traits are important to hiring districts:

Your enthusiasm and excitement for a subject, regardless of what it is, is infectious. If students see that Mathematics can be fun, they are far more likely to remain interested and focused. Each classroom is different and encompasses multiple intelligences and learning styles. A good teacher is able to reach out to each student, spark his or her interest, and provide the appropriate support and motivation. Supporting a student may involve providing after-school tutoring, collaborating with staff and parents to develop an Individualized Education Plan or Program, adapting instructional techniques, or simply offering more positive encouragement. Children deserve the chance to learn and succeed, and it is up to you to help each and every one of them. Differentiating instruction relates directly to the point above. Since students learn via different methods, it is key that you are able to be adaptable and remain flexible in your teaching styles. By facilitating auditory, visual, tactile, and kinesthetic learners, you are able to ensure that the children are able to understand and retain the information through whichever manner suits them best. Creativity sparks interest and curiosity and decreases boredom. By keeping lesson plans fun and hands-on, students remain focused, on-track, and eager to learn more. These skills are crucial for progressing to the next academic level, as well as succeeding in the real world. Since teachers are one of the primary points of contact for children, it is crucial that problem solving and socialization skills are modeled in the classroom and fostered by the instructor. Even if you are not an English or Language Arts teacher, you can still utilize literature to instruct students. Convey what types of literary activities you incorporate into everyday lessons and demonstrate what kind of impact it has left on students.

There are several different methods for showcasing these traits in your resume and cover letter. You can put them under your job description or achievements listed under the different job positions; create an areas of expertise section, which focuses on the aforementioned qualities; or highlight them in the introductory paragraph of your resume. Within the cover letter, you may choose to develop a separate paragraph detailing your greatest strengths (i.e. the qualities listed above). Regardless of where you include them, make sure they are somewhere in your documents. If a potential employer sees that you lack these desired qualities, he or she will move on to the next candidate. However, if you make these traits really stand out in your documents, you as a teacher will stand out as well.

Candace Davies, Owner of A+ Resumes for Teachers is certified as a Professional Resume Writer, Certified Interview Coach, Certified Employment Interview Professional, Associate Certified Career Coach, and Electronic Career Coach.

Visit her website at http://www.resumes-for-teachers.com or email candoco@telus.net

For Administrators:

http://www.resumes-for-principals.com/PIE/Principals-Interview-Edge.php

For Teachers:

http://www.resumes-for-teachers.com/ebook/Teachers-Interview-Edge.php

By: Candace Davies

Kids’ Mathematics – How to Make it Fun 30 Minutes a Day

Admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:40:41 +0000

In this article, we are going to give you tips on how to make math fun for your kids. You can take the information and use it to increase your child’s math skills 30 minutes a day. Although most of the games are 30 minutes, you may find yourself doing it for an hour. Kids love to have fun and we’re going to give them what they are looking for.

Rapid Kids’ Mathematics

Kids interested in mathematics will love Rapid Math because it requires competition, speed, and accuracy. This game helps students become masters of basic math fundamentals such as multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction. Kids of all ages can participate in Rapid Math.

A minimum of four players are needed (one answering questions/one providing flashcards). Each player has one partner which will use math equations on their flash cards to answer math problems. There should be 100 flashcards per team.

The whole deck must be completed before the game ends. For instance, the child must understand and answer an equation no matter how many times it appears in the deck. Every time he or she gives an incorrect answer, the flashcard is placed back in the deck for the remainder of the game.

Why is Rapid Math a great way to teach your kids mathematics?

Parents can use Rapid Math as a game to encourage their child’s to seek knowledge. For instance, adding small prizes such as extra television time, recess, or a fun day at the park would make a child want to learn more to earn the prizes. The psychological and emotional impact of a job well-done keeps kids coming back to earn more.

Rapid Math can be an essential tool to ensure your child remains sharp in all areas of math. Parents can adjust the levels of difficulty from basic math to algebra; start your child’s academic future in the right direction by participating in Rapid Math to make learning fun. Other games are available for Grades K-6, but Rapid Math is the most effective in developing kids’ aptitudes for higher learning skills.

By: Kyle Taylor

What You Wanted To Know About High Speed Vedic Mathematics And Didnt Know Who To Ask

Admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:14:34 +0000

What You wanted to know about High Speed Vedic Mathematics and didnt know who to ask

THE 10 MOST OFTEN ASKED QUESTIONS….!

INTRODUCTION:

It is a well known fact that our country (Bharath) stands aloft with its rich cultural heritage since thousands of years. Our Ancient Seers & Scientists have made wonderful contributions in the field of Science & Technology also. In spite of these glorious achievements, our people including the so-called educated have a dismal knowledge about the Scientific & Technological achievements and do everything to curb the professional growth of these.

After nearly one and a half decades of dedicated research, I found that the following facts and truths about the Vedic / Ancient Indian Mathematics have to be brought to light for a proper understanding and appreciation of the same in a proper perspective.

The facts are given in a nutshell as under.

Q1. What is ‘Vedic’ or ‘Ancient Indian Mathematics’?

Ans: ‘Vedic Mathematics’ basically consists of Mathematical concepts, methods and techniques embodied in the Vedic & Upanishadic literature. These are expressed in terms of Mantras and Sutras (Aphorisms), in subtle forms.

Ancient Indian Mathematics refers to post Vedic & medieval times up to the 19th century. Some of the greatest names are Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Bhaskaracharya (I & II), Sridharacharya, Madhavacharya, Mahaveeracharya, Narayana Pandita etc., The mathematical concepts, methods, postulates, theorems and techniques are expressed in terms of Slokas; which are Lyrically beautiful, but mathematically precise! And also in terms of Sutras & coded literature.

Q2 What is the scope of VM/AIM?

Ans: The scope extends right from the fundamental Arithmetic to Algebra, Geometry Trigonometry, Calculus (Integral and Differential), Biquadratics, solution of Polynomials, Astronomy, Graph theory to some computer based numerical methods. The Nyaya Sastras & MIMAMSA are the veritable source of knowledge in the fields of NLP & NLU and Artificial Intelligence.

03. What is the relevance of VM / AIM in the present world of advanced mathematics and computer science and technology? Is it just historical?

Ans: VM / AIM present a novel, creative approach to understanding and solving the problems; right from the basic to the advanced level and open up new Vistas of knowledge.

a) They are chosen based on their superiority over the conventional methods on the following criteria.

i) Step size ii) Step length iii) Computational time

iv) Elegance and v) Novelty.

b) Incidentally, the Ancient Indian Scientists have discovered many mathematical concepts and techniques, centuries before their modern counter parts!

0 4. What is the methodology of presentation?

Ans: VM / AIM are expressed in terms of modern mathematical notations to make them user friendly and original references are provided to make them authentic.

Q 5. How stable are the methods and techniques?

Ans: They have stood the test of time for centuries and continue to inspire and challenge even now.

Q 6. Does one need to be very good in maths to learn this?

Ans: Not necessary. Students, with lesser aptitude, who used to score low marks, have found it very interesting and user friendly. The scores have improved very much even with little training.

Q 7. What is the feed back from the teachers?

Ans: In fact, they have wholeheartedly welcomed VM / AIM, since they are highly creative, ultra fast, give different dimension to teaching of maths. Reports confirm that, in about 50-60% of the time, the present syllabi can be effectively & efficiently covered! They strongly recommend the introduction of VM/AIM in the school curriculum.

Q 8. What about college students?

Ans: It is a boon to all the candidates of competitive exams. They can clear the paper in about 60-70% of the time, with 100% accuracy.

They can adopt many of these methods in their curriculum like calculus, computer based numerical methods etc. They can also work on the projects based on the application of VM/AIM.

Q 9. In spite of all these benefits, why is it not finding its place in the curriculum?

Ans: i) Apathy towards our own heritage.

ii) People at the helm of affairs have cynical and passive attitude towards VM/AIM; resulting in curbing of genuine researchers.

iii) Lack of organizational support.

iv) Authentic course material and syllabi have to be professionally designed.

Q 10. What is the future of VM/AIM?

Ans: a) The future is very bright. Already about 20 Universities like Birmingham, Philadelphia, Oslo, Zurich, Munchen, Sydney, Heidelberg, London School of Economics etc., have introduced VM/AIM in their curriculum.

b) Serious R & D works are going on.

c) The number of International Conferences on Ancient Indian Science and Mathematics are on steady increase.

d) In India also, barring, a very few organizations supporting R & D works, lot of individuals are doing R & D works on these.

e) There is a tremendous scope for India to lead the world in education to bring the best results.

Incidentally learning of VM/AIM removes the fear psychosis in maths and the whole world is looking towards India for its valuable contribution.

Incidentally, the Scientists have reported that, learning of VM/AIM enhances the right brain activities and makes children more creative.

Come! Let us collectively spread this wonderful Ancient Indian Mathematics through out the world….

By: Gaurav Tekriwal