Top >10 Mathematics Websites Colleen Young

Top >10 Mathematics Websites Any presentation claiming a top 10 (or >10 in my case) is clearly showing you the author’s top 10, not the top 10! The images and/or text in the slides provide hyperlinks for further information. Because I have used categories as well as individual websites this gives me the excuse to mention as many sites as I like, hence >10! These are my top >10 because I really do use them – a lot – in the classroom!

5 12 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 Contents page page page page page page Cambridge University Desmos WolframAlpha Problems & Activities Questions & Exercises page page page page page 25 28 31 34 37 Notes & Videos Applets, Calculators Scratch, GeoGebra, Tarsia, Plotley Games Sharing Ideas & Resources

Contents In each section listed in the Contents, you will find: A section header describing the section which follows Images which link directly to a site and/or further information Further information and commentary.

Cambridge University Inspiring, challenging and engaging online Mathematics resources.

Nrich The Nrich Project from the University of Cambridge aims to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners

Nrich Nrich- a favourite site I return to again and again. The site has extensive resources including problems, games, interactives and articles for teachers. Choose the stage required from Teachers’ or Students’ menus on the front page. Choosing Secondary under Teachers for example includes a link (under Collections) to an excellent stage 3 and 4 curriculum page which suggest NRICH activities by curriculum topic. Also, very usefully, activities are listed by mathematical processes such as Thinking Strategically and Working Systematically. Note also the link to the mapping document which is very valuable when searching for activities. It is also possible to Search by topic and Activities organised by topics are also available on student pages. The Other Resources collection includes the excellent poster collection as well as a wealth of other resources. The guides for Students and Teachers include links to register for newsletters. For the Interactive Whiteboard there are many outstanding interactives. Contents

Underground Mathematics Underground Mathematics has the aim of “Enabling all students to explore the connections that underpin mathematics”

Underground Mathematics From the University of Cambridge comes Underground Mathematics which started in 2012 as the Cambridge Mathematics Education Project (CMEP). The site provides a library of rich resources for age 16+ students with the aim of “Enabling all students to explore the connections that underpin mathematics”. Underground Mathematics is being developed by the University of Cambridge, funded by a grant from the UK Department for Education. The resources are free for all users; you can read more about the team and their philosophy here.  Follow Underground Mathematics on Twitter or Facebook. Scroll down the main page and you will find a clear ‘How-to’ guide; use the menus and/or watch the video. Resources are helpfully classified by type and you can browse in many ways. Note that you can also select individual elements on the map. Try Quadratics for example and check the station guide for information. Looking at the guide led me to Name that graph; as with all the resources on the site more than just the problem is provided, we also have printable resources, solutions and teachers notes. Contents

Desmos The outstanding graphing calculator for students of all ages

Desmos The superb graphing calculator from Desmos can be used by students of all ages from young students learning about coordinates and graphs to students studying for Mathematics degrees. It is simple to use but has many sophisticated features. For a series of pages on using Desmos including examples of syntax see this collection of pages. Apps are available for both iOS and Android. iOS apps       Android App Contents

WolframAlpha A computationnel knowledge engine rather good at Mathematics!

WolframAlpha Contents WolframAlpha - a computational knowledge engine which is rather good at Mathematics (as well as many other subjects!).This is so useful for checking solutions or exploring many examples. A series of pages on WolframAlpha includes slideshows to demonstrate syntax. WolframAlpha can be used with students of all ages from the very youngest to degree level students. A post written for students with some questions to try can be found on Mathematics for Students . Contents

Problems & Activities If you are searching for problems and activities for your Mathematics lesson or perhaps for homework where do you start?.

Problems & Activities Problems – There are many excellent sites providing resources for problems, many are highlighted on their own pages. See the following pages: Problems and Activities Rich Tasks Resources Students enjoy variety, to quote one of my students when asked about what makes a good Maths teacher?: Use different media, it’s really important – the ordinary board, the whiteboard, worksheets, jigsaws, cut and stick (matching up exercises), drawing, walk around the classroom problems (treasure hunts), computers. Contents

Questions & Exercises Questions to get your students thinking and exercises to secure skills

Questions & Exercises Contents We should plan for questions carefully in our lessons, we need questions to really make our students think and we need questions to help them practise skills. See: Rich Questions, in particular Questions Worth Asking and Diagnostic Questions Revision Activities If we asked the students for their top Maths websites I know most of mine would include BBC bitesize which includes questions to try. Suggestions for students: Questions – lots of questions Contents

Notes & Videos Notes and videos to support student learning

Notes & Videos Contents Students sometimes ask for extra examples or notes which prompted me to include pages on both: Notes Videos If all that is needed is a definition, why not display one from an online resource students could then refer to at home? Reference – see in particular Jenny Eather’s dictionary and the glossary for teachers. Many universities make excellent notes available online for all students. See this Evernote shared notebook (no login is necessary and you do not need an Evernote account to use the Notebook). The mathcentre in particular has a great variety of resources including notes and videos. Contents

Applets & Calculators Applets, calculators & manipulatives to check work, demonstrate and explore concepts.

Applets &Calculators Contents There are many great sites in this category. There are many calculators useful for checking work in class which students could also use at home. I know common searches which send people to my blog are for the excellent Wisweb applets. John Page’s Math Open Reference includes some excellent demonstrations on constructions Search by technology type on the MathsTools site – this article by Bethany Hudnutt  is on the navigation of the site. Two more excellent sites are the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives and Spencer Riley’s Teacher LED site of interactive whiteboard resources. Contents

Software GeoGebra - dynamic mathematics software. Scratch – learn to code and do some maths too. Tarsia – create puzzles. Graph and share data with Plotly Software

Software Geogebra for interactive Geometry. This is a sophisticated program and much support is available online in the form of videos and tutorials. I have included some useful links in this post. From MIT Scratch is an object-oriented programming language which is an excellent resource for teaching students programming skills as well as doing Mathematics. Software – a list like this would be incomplete without mentioning Geogebra for interactive Geometry. This is a sophisticated program and much support is available online in the form of videos and tutorials. I have included some useful links in this post. From MIT Scratch is an object- oriented programming language which is an excellent resource for teaching students programming skills as well as doing Mathematics. Contents

Games Enhance learning with some Mathematical games

Games Nrich has many articles on using games. My own favourite Nrich games and many other games and puzzles are on a companion blog Mathematics Games. A site with many games to practise numeracy skills at 10 different levels is Sumdog (further information including the topics covered and instructions for students in this post). Contents

Sharing ideas & resources Online communities, great blogs to read and resource sharing

Sharing ideas & Resources Finally I would not be without the various blogs, online communities and resource sharing sites. For plenty of reading and great ideas try these various excellent blogs. Many resources have already been mentioned in the earlier sections but these sites all have extensive collections; The National STEM Centre is an outstanding example. See TES for resources and forums and NCETM, The Guardian Teacher Network, Mark McCourt’s Emaths, also Twitter which can be a great source of ideas and information. Thanks to the many teachers who share excellent resources, superb examples include Ben Cooper’s coops-online and Just Maths for resources and a great blog. I would also like to mention some favourite blogs that always make me think – not Mathematics specific but these have important ideas for educators everywhere. So - a lot more than 10 there and so many more that I have not mentioned! There are so many excellent free resources for Mathematics – which is why I enjoy writing my blog! My favourites are all here! Contents

Colleen Young https://twitter.com/ColleenYoung Mathematics, Learning & Technology Mathematics for Students