Tasks | Early Adolescence | The Internet Maths Hunt

Tasks - Early Adolescence

The Internet Maths Hunt   by Glenys Stade, Hampton SHS

Phase of Development:   Early Adolescence

Learning Area/s:	Mathematics
Strand/s	Appreciating Mathematics Working Mathematically
Substrand/s	Contextualise Mathematics Mathematical Strategies
Brief Description:	Pose a series of questions about mathematics and mathematicians where the answers can be found on the Internet.
Expected Outcomes:	Familiarity with some Maths Web Sites which have a search facility. Attempt different search procedures. Appreciate aspects of the history of mathematics.
Context:	Metropolitan Area Senior High School. Only Internet access is from the library where a lab of 20 computers are available. Activity was designed for a Maths Enrichment group of 18 students. Students worked in pairs.
Learning Activities/ Experience:	Time taken - 4 hours Too often when using the library for research, books are put aside and internet sites are bookmarked. No real research techniques are being used and students don't get a real feel for how to use the internet for research. This activity was designed to give students the opportunity to research, and to ensure that they were not over-awed by the extent of the internet. A few sites with search utilities were bookmarked as follows. The MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk:80/history/BiogIndex.html Math Archive archives.math.utk.edu/ Note:   The idea for this hunt comes directly from the Math Forum website. From the Worksheet you can see the students were given an example before attempting to answer the questions. The emphasis is on recording the process not just getting an answer. Some students used a more general search engine for some questions. A possible extension is to ask students to search through the sites and pose their own questions.
Resources:	Learning Technologies - Computers with Internet connections
Assessment & Evaluation:	The number of answers achieved in the time set indicates the efficiency of their search procedures. The third point How did you find that page? should have a higher emphasis in any marking.

The Internet Maths Hunt

The Internet Maths Hunt

The Internet Maths Hunt consists of questions about mathematics and mathematicians. The answers can be found on the Internet. The hunt is designed to help you gain familiarity with different Maths Web sites which have a search utility. The aim is to answer as many of the following questions as you can working in pairs. Answers should be in three parts: What did you find? What is the URL (address) where you eventually found the information? How did you find that page? Remember, the answers to the questions can be found on the World Wide Web. You do not have to answer all the questions, the aim is to answer as many as you can in the time available. Here is an example: Q.   What can you find out about the software package QuasiTiler? The answer should look something like this: QuasiTiler draws Penrose tilings and their generalisations. It is a program which is available form the Geometry Centre. http://www.geom.umn.edu/apps/quasitiler/about.html I searched the Math forum Web site for quasitiler, and it returned a link to the Gallery of Interactive Geometry and a link for Quasitiler was the first thing on that page.

The Hunt Begins

What is Fermat's Last Theorem? Who solved it? What do you call an eleven sided polygon? What is a pantograph? Can you find a picture? What is the Sieve of Eratosthenes? Which mathematician, born on 11 May, was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1965? The soccer ball is really an Archimedean Solid. What is the name of that solid? Which two well known mathematicians were born on 15 April? With what area of mathematics did Florence Nightingale work? What German mathematician died on Valentine's Day? For what is he particularly known? Who said Ubi materia, ibi geometria? What does it mean? According to Lewis Carroll, what are the four branches of arithmetic? How many books are there in Euclid's Elements? What is the Fields Medal? What mathematician was born in Syracuse, Sicily? How did he die? What is the email address of the President of the Mathematics Association of America? What relatively famous mathematician was born on 14 March? What is so funny about the first sentence of this question? The Seven Bridges of Konigsberg deals with what area of mathematics? Explain the problem. Name a mathematician who was born in Konigsberg? A famous mathematician was born on 27 January. Who is he and for what is he famous? John Conway is a mathematician and professor at Princeton University. What game did he invent? What's his email address?