Teacher & Student Online Resource Center: K-12 Mathematics

Online Resources to Enhance K-12 Mathematics (and Money) Instruction

by Dave Privett, WPS Media Specialist

November 20, 2008

Below are some online resources I have located through peer recommendation, professional journal recommendations, and some I have just come across through my own searching. In an attempt to keep this page as up-to-date and useful as possible, please report all dead links or new links you would like added to dprivett@esu2.org.

Mathematics
(Money/Currency links are at the bottom of this page)

NetTrekker (Subscription Database)
(See Mr. Privett for user name and password)

NetTrekker d.i. (differentiated instruction) offers access to more than 180,000 educator-selected online resources organized by readability level and aligned to Nebraska State Standards. A great resource for teachers to use to enhance their lessons, and for students to review classroom content in all subjects and all grade levels! CHECK IT OUT!!

-------------------------

HippoCampus
HippoCampus offers multimedia lessons and course materials to help you with your instruction, homework and studies. You can browse multimedia lessons or complete courses, and find help with the topics covered in popular textbooks. Multiple resources are available, for free, for the subjects of Algebra, Calculus and Statistics.

K-12 Links

Create a Graph at Kidzone - The National Center for Education Statistics offers up a great on-line graphing tool that can be used by students and teachers of all ages. This on-line tool makes creating a graph very simple and straightforward. Users can design, print and save their graphs without learning a spreadsheet program. (Source: NETA News, November 2007)
Division Bingo - This web site offers students a chance to practice their division skills in a fun interactive game. From students learning their basic math facts to those needing a review of division, you'll find this "bingo game" to be one that students will revisit. (Source: NETA News, November 2007)
Gregg Robke Manila Site - ESU 4 Staff Developer Gregg Robke has compiled a list of math sites that he has found useful. If you can't find what you want with this list, it is not out there! (Source: NETA News, November 2007)
Illuminations - The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) is the host of the Illuminations, Infinity (formerly Marco Polo) web site. Activities, lessons, and web links make this a "go to" spot for teachers of mathematics at all grade levels. Every unit of mathematics is supported with on-line activities, games and lesson ideas. You may pick a grade level and type in a keyword to search for activities that are appropriate for your topic and grade level. If you have never been to this web site, it is time well spent! (Source: NETA News, November 2007)
Math Goodies - A great resource for all things Math! Interactive lessons, worksheets and even homework help for K-12. More than 500 activities for students, educators and parents. Sign up for a monthly newsletter of site updates and math news! (Source: NETA News, November 2007)
National Library of Virtual Manipulatives - a useful site providing interactive manipulatives for math instruction at all levels. Created by Utah State University.
TeAchnology - This on-line teacher resource includes lesson plans, printable worksheets, preformatted rubrics, printable generators, teaching tips and themes, while listing 256,000 reviewed sites. For math, click on the 'Subjects' tab and then 'Math' and you will find a wealth of information from teaching tools to lesson plans and worksheets that relate to a variety of topics. (Source: NETA News, September 2007)
Web Math - A great resource for students, this interactive web site gives step by step instructions for the problems that are submitted. Sections include: math for everyone, general math, K-8 math, algebra, plots & geometry, trig & calculus and others too numerous to mention. (Source: NETA News, November 2007)
What's My Angle? - The series of activities at this site demonstrate the use of protractors and the correct measurement of angles. A great source for students learning about angles, measurements and protractors.

Elementary Links

AAA Math - A good site to review elementary and middle school math. Hundreds of pages of basic math skills. Interactive practice, an explanation of the math topic and several challenge games on every page.
Fun Brain - A very popular site that offers numerous fun student activities including Math Baseball, Soccer Shout Out, Power Football, Math Car Racing and What's the Point. Always expanding and always enjoyable!
MegaMath - An absolutely wonderful collection of creative and imaginative ideas, exercises, and fun things to do. For all ages. From the Computer Research and Applications Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Secondary Links

ALGEBRA, TRIGONOMETRY, CALCULUS AND BEYOND
AlgebraHelp - Clear lessons on basic algebra in “plain English”; calculators with step-by-step solutions; and worksheets which check your answers automatically.(Source: Millard North High School Website)
Dave's Short Trig Course - An introduction to trigonometry, with exercises.(Source: Millard North High School Website)
Hippo Campus - This site is intended as a homework helper site for students and is not intended to be used for classroom instruction. With that said, we are really impressed by the offerings for algebra and calculus. Students can select their course, textbook, and the page number they need assistance with and faster than you can say "HippoCampus" an on-line tutoring session begins walking students through interactive examples that align with the lesson from their textbook (Government, biology, environmental science, physics, religion and U.S. history are also covered at this site). (Source: NETA News, November 2007)
Purplemath - Your Algebra Resource(Source: Millard North High School Website)
S.O.S. Math - Excellent site for Math review material from Algebra to Differential Equations. (Source: Millard North High School Website)

CALCULUS(Source: Millard North High School Website)
Calculus-Help.com - This website, founded in 1998, began as a resource for high school calculus students who needed additional practice and detailed solutions to the types of problem they saw everyday in class but had trouble understanding.
Calc101 - does derivatives and integrals with each step explained, automatically, in seconds.
Calculus Help - A professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Hawaii, authored these notes to help students learn how to use, not just understand, the concepts of calculus. A total of fifteen topics are covered and include max-min problems, exponential growth, and the derivation of Kepler's second law.

MATH PUZZLES, EXERCISES AND FUN STUFF(Source: Millard North High School Website)
MegaMath - An absolutely wonderful collection of creative and imaginative ideas, exercises, and fun things to do. For all ages. From the Computer Research and Applications Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Math Goodies - A site featuring interactive math lessons for 5th through 8th grade levels. It also contains chat boards that can be used to help with homework and other areas.
Math Puzzles - A mixed bag of interactive math puzzles and philosophy. Many of these require Java and/or JavaScript.
Miscellaneous Math Utilities - The site includes utilities for solving N Equations in N Unknowns, Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors, Kepler's Equation, Optimization, Root-finding, Numerical Integration, and more.
Nick's Mathematical Puzzles - A collection of puzzles ranging over geometry, probability, number theory, algebra, calculus, and logic. Hints are provided (wherever possible), along with answers, fully worked solutions, and links to relevant mathematical topics. Many of the puzzles are elementary in their statement, yet quite challenging. New puzzles are added on a regular basis.
Puzzles with Polyhedra and Numbers - At this site one can print copies of polyhedron puzzles and read several mathematical articles on the subject.
Lessons and Appetizers for Math and Reason - Several puzzles and short discussions to help students understand algebra and proofs. If you don't like the first one you look at, try another; they're all quite different.

------------------------------

Money

50 State Quarters
The new Fifty State Quarter Program was introduced by the United States Mint in January 1999. This site published by the U. S. Mint offers comprehensive information about this program, including a program fact sheet, photos and descriptions of each state quarter, the design criteria, the evaluation process, and the history of the quarter.

-------------------------

Currency Converter
Great for finding out how many monetary units of a given country equals a U.S. dollar.Two-way conversion also possible.

-------------------------

The pdf files below are published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Banking Basics
This pdf document provides an overview of the banking system for young people. Topics include checks clearing, currency circulation, methods of payment, electronic banking and the role of the Federal Reserve. Designed for students with an understanding of the U.S. banking system.

Coins and Currency
This pdf document covers the history of American currency, from Columbus to the Information Age.

"History at Your Fingertips" and "Spirit of the Nation"
This pdf document traces the evolution of paper currency in the United States, focusing on the different themes depicted on our bills.

History of Colonial Money
This pdf document presents an outline of the evolution of money in the Colonial period. Describes wampum, "country pay," foreign and domestic coins, bills of credit, and continental currency. Includes a short glossary.

Liberty and the American Eagle
This pdf document examines the two emblems that were the hallmark of our early coinage.

-------------------------

H.I.P. Pocket Change
"This site is sponsored by the U.S. Mint. If they click on 'Games' and then on 'Cents of Color', children can color a quarter--either the one in use for years or one of the new commemorative quarters from the states where these have been issued. Clicking on 'Info' gives information about why the different images were chosen for each of the new state quarters. Another fun-and-challenging game, even for adults, is the Golden Dollar Puzzle, in which the user is given 3 minutes to put together a jigsaw puzzle of the golden dollar. Or, select 'Puzzle Mint' to see jigsaw puzzles of the new commemorative quarters. On the 'Cartoon' page you will see a cartoon on the 'Birth of a Coin', or you can click on 'Coins of the World' and learn how coins from different nations are sometimes like our coins but can also look very different."