I Loved Math Until It Became Hard

As we get older we tend to forget the subjects we were never enamored with in the first place. For me it's mathematics. I used to love math when it involved numbers but as I grew older it involved less numbers and more letters. Math had become too abstract than I could comprehend. I usually did well in my classes--from elementary to undergraduate, but solving the problems became more rote and less grounded in comprehension.

I'm a visual and kinesthetic learner and it's sometimes difficult for me to see math problems the way mathematicians do. Often math-ies, as I like to call them, have an indepth understanding of math and can easily relate it to real life phenomena but relaying that knowledge to children-and adults, is more difficult.

Shodor Interactive (http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/) is a great site for teachers looking for lesson plans as well as for students looking to see how mathematics is relevant in every day life. I have to admit that glancing through the site was like flipping through a Chinese dictionary but only because the math is stuff I learned years ago and has since been deleted from my Random Access Memory. But the site is a tremendous resource because of the range of subjects and ages addressed and the curriculum covered.

What I Like:

1. Curriculum materials are indexed by grade level (http://www.shodor.org/curriculum/grade.php)


2. Curriculum is sorted by subject (http://www.shodor.org/curriculum/subject.php)


3. On-line activities for students include tab sections to give more clarity to what is going on in the activity, instructions and a help section for the activity. There's also a tab for the instructor that gives info about the standards addressed as well as links to lesson plan ideas and worksheets.


4. Math activities are categorized. So to search through geometry activities you'd click on Geometry link at the top of the page (http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/).

Word of Caution:

No website should ever be used in isolation or instead of a lesson plan. These activities are great tools to reinforce learning by seeing and doing. But even on-line activities need to be modeled, explained and connected to what is taught in the classroom. Some of these activities were difficult for me to play around with. At first I punched in random numbers without knowing what I was doing. And then I read through the Student and Help sections and got a better idea. It would have been a lot easier if I knew what I was doing and someone had modeled the activity first.

MINIMUM REQS: You will need Java script to use the interactive features of the site. You can download it for free at http://www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp

ABOUT SHODOR:

Shodor is a non-profit research and education organization dedicated to the advancement of science and math education, specifically through the use of modeling and simulation technologies.