Classroom Professor

A Tale of Two Classrooms: Finger Counting in Grade 5, Visualising in Grade 1

Peter Price — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:37:48 +0000

Can children really visualise numbers and number relationships? Or should they learn to use their fingers to find answers by counting? A striking contrast between Grade 5 and Grade 1 students.

Best Math Blog Posts: May, 2012

Peter Price — Mon, 14 May 2012 02:00:50 +0000

What can you learn from expert teacher bloggers about how to teach math? Read and see - great articles by Tom Whitby, Larry Cuban, Fawn Nguyen, Daniel Schneider & Matt Vaudrey.

Without These 3 Components, Your Primary/Elementary Mathematics Lessons Won’t Work

Peter Price — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:29:42 +0000

Primary/elementary teachers have one of the hardest jobs in the world, perhaps most of all in their teaching of math. There are 3 components to any good lesson to absolutely nail to be successful in teaching math to K-6 children.

Teach the 9x Nine Times Tables

Peter Price — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 10:45:47 +0000

Teach the 9x nine times tables easily, using the patterns that appear in several forms, including the "9x Tables Finger Trick". Watch the video, download the set of free worksheets.

Math Teachers Survey 2012

Peter Price — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 07:31:38 +0000

Teachers of mathematics: what are your biggest challenges? How can I help? I would love to hear from you.

Would Khan Academy Work for Elementary Math?

Peter Price — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 23:00:00 +0000

High school math teachers as a group are quite critical of the Khan Academy approach to teaching. Perhaps it would be more acceptable in the elementary classroom?

Best Math Blog Posts: March, 2012

Peter Price — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 05:23:15 +0000

Five recent posts from top math education blogs.: Fawn Nguyen, Coach G, Malke, Ms Cookie & Mike Hartley

Khan Academy: “Teacher-Proof” Curriculum?

Peter Price — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 03:27:56 +0000

Khan Academy present thousands of free teaching videos for math, science and many other subjects. But what is the underlying message for teachers?

So, You Will be Teaching my Grandchildren? Job Interview Questions

Peter Price — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:17:41 +0000

What are the most important characteristics for a mathematics teacher? Do you agree with my answers to these 10 questions?

Are Wind Farms The Solution? Do the Math!

Peter Price — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:13:12 +0000

Teach your students to use math in environmental education lessons, to assess the issues before reaching an informed conclusion.

Math and International Travel

Peter Price — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 12:43:12 +0000

International travelers have to use multiplication and division all the time when budgeting, shopping and getting around by car, to convert local units to more familiar units.

Where is Zero on the Earth?

Peter Price — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 13:07:36 +0000

Where do we start measuring time and place from? Greenwich, London, is the site of the Prime Meridian and the time zone from which all others are measured.

Ignorance of Number Facts “No Barrier to Success”?

Peter Price — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:24:31 +0000

Does recent research really prove that knowing number facts isn't important? Big media says it does.

Math in the Cemetery

Peter Price — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 05:30:32 +0000

What can students learn in a cemetery? History, social studies, and MATH!

Teaching Mathematics from a Museum

Peter Price — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 08:10:31 +0000

How much mathematics is involved in military communication? You'd be surprised.

Math & Secret Codes

Peter Price — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 02:00:32 +0000

Link secret codes, spy mysteries, the Enigma machine and mathematics.

Teach Roman Math

Peter Price — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 19:07:43 +0000

What can the Ancient Romans teach us about mathematics?

Math at Stonehenge & Cardiff Castle

Peter Price — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 09:27:48 +0000

Integrating history, science and technology with mathematics from Stonehenge and Cardiff Castle.

Teaching Slope in the Mountains of Switzerland

Peter Price — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 12:39:16 +0000

Thinking about geometry in Switzerland, where engineers have mastered steep slopes.

What is REALLY Important in Teaching Math?

Peter Price — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 04:47:37 +0000

You are a math teacher; you know what works and what doesn't in your classroom. Can we chat?

Teaching Symmetry in Paris

Peter Price — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 10:25:21 +0000

Video footage from Paris, France, demonstrating both reflective and rotational symmetry. You can do this in any city!

Teach Symmetry Down Town

Peter Price — Sat, 28 May 2011 07:30:00 +0000

La Grande Arche in Paris illustrates opportunities that public buildings offer for many math topics.

What Math Teachers Really Want: 2011 Survey Results

Peter Price — Wed, 25 May 2011 01:19:07 +0000

Math teachers of all grades from 1 to 12 and beyond responded to 5 questions about their teaching in this survey, conducted in 2011.

Math, Boats and Canal Technology

Peter Price — Sun, 15 May 2011 13:30:42 +0000

Canal locks have been used since Roman times to raise boats from one river level to another. What math is involved?

Sundials & Math in Switzerland

Peter Price — Fri, 06 May 2011 23:00:33 +0000

This Geneva Museum has some outdoor interactive displays about the measurement of time.

The Math of Beaches, Mud and Hovercraft

Peter Price — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 23:08:08 +0000

Impact your students with mathematics that is connected to real life contexts.

Advanced Number Facts Strategies

Peter Price — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 23:15:27 +0000

Multiplication number facts need to be learned quickly and accurately if students are to be able to cope with more advanced topics.

The Best Number Facts Strategies

Peter Price — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 04:52:58 +0000

How can you help students to learn their multiplication number facts?

No-one Cares About Your Educational Theory

Peter Price — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 20:00:36 +0000

At times, those outside academia criticize we educators for being "out of touch" with the reality that exists outside the classroom.

Teaching a Great Math Lesson Part 4: What Students Should Have Learned

Peter Price — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 23:30:48 +0000

A most important phase of every math lesson takes place after students have tackled problems without lots of teacher help.

Teaching a Great Math Lesson Part 5: Give Students Something to Take Away

Peter Price — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 23:30:06 +0000

How should we finish a great math lesson?

Word Clouds: What Do They Reveal About Your Passions?

Peter Price — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 22:00:32 +0000

Want to know what your blog (or other writing) shows about what you think most about?

Teach Metric Units: The Cubic Meter

Peter Price — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 02:59:20 +0000

Why hasn't the USA switched to using metric units by now? Teach about cubic meters using this kit!

Show Any Number At All With Number Lines

Peter Price — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:00:05 +0000

If you teach math, you should use number lines to represent numbers of all sorts - whole, common fraction, decimal fraction, percentages,...

Quit Moving the Decimal Point!

Peter Price — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:30:53 +0000

Please, don't teach your students to move the decimal point - it belongs where it is, between the ones and the tenths.

Not the Same Old Math Podcast

Peter Price — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 13:48:37 +0000

We are pleased to announce the listing of our new podcast on iTunes, on March 10, 2011.

Teach 1-20 With Ten Frames

Peter Price — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 03:53:43 +0000

Ten Frames are simple to make and yet are powerful models for numbers up to 20.

Math Teacher, What Are You Looking For?

Peter Price — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 12:05:50 +0000

This short, anonymous survey will help me to know what math teachers are looking for online. Thank you for your time!

Floods in Brisbane, Australia: How much water? (US spelling)

Peter Price — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 14:57:26 +0000

The 2011 Queensland floods provided opportunities for math teachers to investigate key statistics being quoted in the media.

Floods in Brisbane, Australia: How Much Water? (Aust/UK spelling)

Peter Price — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 14:56:01 +0000

The 2011 Queensland floods provided opportunities for math teachers to investigate key statistics being quoted in the media.

Download Worksheet for 4x – Double Doubles

Peter Price — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 07:42:32 +0000

The 4x facts are based on the skill of doubling, and build on the previously learned 2x (doubles) facts. These facts are in the easier half of all multiplication facts to be learned, and are quite readily visualized by students.

Download Worksheet for 5x – Halving Strategy

Peter Price — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:02:13 +0000

Teach students the 5x number facts using a "halving" strategy, based on 5 being half of 10.

What are Extended Number Facts – And How Do Students Learn Them?

Peter Price — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 07:12:36 +0000

Provided that a student has memorized the basic facts and understands place value, they can be encouraged to figure out extended facts mentally,saving lots of time and effort.

Stop Calling Number Facts ‘Times Tables’

Peter Price — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 06:40:55 +0000

"Times tables" should really be called "number facts" - the latter term includes the other operations of addition, subtraction and division, in addition to multiplication.

Times Tables: Why Should You Care?

Peter — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 05:30:35 +0000

Times Tables were traditionally a core of mathematics education for generations; are they still being taught? Should they?

Download Worksheet for 3x – Doubles Plus One

Trish — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 04:55:58 +0000

Teaching the 3x times tables or number facts involves a "Doubles Plus One More Set" strategy. By this stage, students should know the 2x tables, and so can learn to add one more of the multiplier. For example, 5 x 3 = Double 5 + 5. This article is in a series of expert articles on teaching times tables, with links to free worksheets.

Download Worksheet for 2x – Doubles

Peter Price — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 12:11:34 +0000

Learning the Two Times Tables is a good place to start, using the Doubles Strategy. This post includes graphics to illustrate examples of doubles from students' everyday experiences.

Times Tables Debate: Essential Learning, Even Today

Peter Price — Sat, 01 May 2010 02:18:39 +0000

Learning times tables seems to be joining other out-of-date topics which have disappeared from many classrooms. I argue that rather than relegating the learning of times tables to the bin of history, teachers should do their students a favour and help them commit all basic facts to memory by the time they are 11 years old.

Teach Decimal Fractions Part 5: Using Software to Teach Decimals

Peter Price — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 07:06:11 +0000

Computer-generated place-value blocks have a number of benefits compared to conventional physical blocks. These benefits include the following: ...

Teach Decimal Fractions Part 4: Decimal Fractions and Percents

Peter Price — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 06:51:36 +0000

Decimal fractions are a notational system for recording certain types of fraction. They are not an idea that is separate from other numbers, but are linked to both the whole-number place-value system, and common fraction ideas.

Teach Decimal Fractions Part 3: Understanding Place Value

Peter Price — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 06:42:12 +0000

Place value is the property which assigns a value to each numerical digit according to its position in the number. For example, ...

Teach Decimal Fractions Part 2: What are Rational Numbers?

Peter Price — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 04:39:25 +0000

Rational numbers include fractions of all types, percentages and ratios, and present difficulties that simply do not exist with whole numbers. All of these number ideas involve two separate numbers, and a comparison between them.

Teach Decimal Fractions Part 1: Using the Power of Computers

Peter Price — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 04:33:17 +0000

There is widespread research and anecdotal evidence that shows that decimal fraction concepts are poorly understood by many students. Unlike whole numbers that can be modeled effectively using place-value blocks and other base-ten material, rational numbers present a number of difficulties for effectively modeling them.

Teaching a Great Math Lesson Part 3: Hands Off & Let Students Think!

Peter Price — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 04:28:21 +0000

The third phase of a great math lesson revolves around students actually thinking mathematically. Miss this part of a math lesson, and you may as well not bother.

Teaching a Great Math Lesson Part 2: Take Over & Instruct!

Peter Price — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 04:21:38 +0000

The second phase of a great mathematics lesson involves serious, "old-school" teaching of content. This is where the teacher is at their most active, most engaging, most authoritative. Teach what students need to know! The next phase involved students working on problems on their own, so you need to prepare them with high-quality, solid teaching.

Teaching a Great Math Lesson Part 1: Capture Students’ Attention!

Peter Price — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 04:20:16 +0000

Starting a mathematics lesson is possibly the most important part, and yet it is often given little thought, and falls into the "Who can tell me what we did yesterday?" pattern. Reinvigorate your math teaching with a creative, attention-grabbing start!

Welcome to Classroom Professor

Peter Price — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 02:00:22 +0000

Video welcome to Classroom Professor from Dr Peter Price