This year’s Winter Adventure is live for Math-Whizzers!
Log into your Math-Whizz student account and check it out. For the first time ever all Math-Whizzers can try our Holiday Adventure. If you’re not a Math-Whizz user then there’s no reason not to give it a try.
Register for a free math tutoring account and get access to five free lessons and a taste of the figgy-pudding seasonal fun we have in store.
WolframAlpha, the interesting ‘computational knowledge engine‘ launched earlier this year, has come up with a new doobry to interest lazy high-school and college math students everywhere…
Users of the super-numerate search engine can henceforth select ‘show steps’ after submitting a particular math problem for a solution.
Google super-users have long known that you can get answers to sometimes complex questions via the google search box – try typing ’5 factorial’ or ’12 mph in cm/s’ – but WolframAlpha takes that computational whizzery to the next level.
Needless to say, most Math-Whizzers shouldn’t (yet) need the assistance of this service in solving, and showing the working for, how to find the roots of quadratic equations. But I suspect this will rapidly become one of the most (ab)used tools in the young mathematician’s armoury.
Use at your peril!
As the Holiday season approaches, students at Lahaina Intermediate School (LIS), Hawai’i, have no excuse for missing out on their math lessons during ‘Furlough Fridays’.
ELL, SPED, and selected sixth-graders have 24/7 access to Math Whizz. This program builds basic math skills…
…All students have a number of lessons they must complete each week. Books are available in our school library for students to borrow. Read, read, and read! In fact, students should be accessing these programs at least once every weekend regardless of the state budget situation. These tools are provided to ensure that education doesn’t stop at the school door. It should continue within your homes. For those who don’t have computers in your homes, the West Maui Boys and Girls Club has computers for student use. We have community resources. We need to use them!
Great advice there – Math-Whizz Tutoring for Schools isn’t just for the classroom. Students can log in to their personal online math tutors wherever and whenever they choose, giving them a math boost on Furlough Fridays, weekends, and holidays too!
In time for Hallowe’en, a spooky theme has been added to the Math-Whizz bedroom!
Students logging into our online math tutor this weekend through Tuesday will get a seasonal treat with a rolling pumpkin head, cobwebbed corners, and rolls of thunder beyond the window.
Whizzers can get a fright with some of our witch-themed measures lessons, ghoulish multiplication questions, and goblin-infested graphing problems. It’s all in Math-Whizz, with over 1200 more animated games to teach (nearly) every math objective under the clouded moon this weekend.
Have a happy Hallowe’en, and may your treat for 2009 be all the tasty maths skills you need!
In the meantime, check out this ghostly math lesson from an inspired teacher who takes some serious time with lesson preparation:
(via Seattle PI Big Blog)
We never stop at Math-Whizz.
We’ve just added a fabulous new feature – Math Challenges – to our burgeoning range of tools proven to boost kids’ math abilities.
With Challenge, students can use their math skills to take on all-comers from across the globe. We have thousands of Maths-Whizz students in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Australasia.
Until yesterday, Maths-Whizzers had to share maths skills and a lesson history with one of their limited buddy list. Now the Maths-Whizz system automatically locates students with similar skills profiles to be challenged on completed lessons.
If you’re the parent of a Math-Whizzer, our latest feature will be perfect for helping you motivate your student, encourage some healthy competition, and boost their confidence in maths. Parents or teachers won’t need to worry about confidentiality, Whizzers cannot post comments to other challengers.
One thing to remember – with new Challenge we now only award credits for improving lesson scores or times in Replay. If you’re already scoring 100% with a fast time, it’s time to try another one of our 1200 animated math lessons.
Login now, or register for our online math tutor, to try out Challenge!
Math-Whizz wants YOU!
Manesh Mistry, man of means in the Math-Whizz programming department, has created a brand new version of our award-winning Teachers’ Resource, but he needs you to help test it and give him feedback on the latest changes.
Whether you’re a teacher or student, you can help shape the next version of Math-Whizz.
Email Manesh – manesh[dot]mistry[at]whizzeducation[dot]com – to find out more and get exclusive access to the new version of Math-Whizz…
Jonathan Fields, over at Awake@TheWheel, asks aloud how one goes about engendering a love of learning. Read his great post, which he begins with the following questions:
Is it really possible to cultivate a “universal” love of learning or is love of learning topic driven?
Should kids be made to learn things they have no intrinsic interest in or passion for?
What’s the best way to incentivize learning in kids?
(From ‘Does Learning Have to Suck?’).
How do you work out how to play the opening chord of ‘A Hard Day’s Night’? Use Math, of course!
This is interesting research from the bleeding-edge interface of hard math and pop culture. The research, reported by William Weir, seems to show that the hitherto mysterious opening chord of this classic pop song can be identified, thanks to mathematician Jason Brown:
To be fair, the debate over the relative benefits of whiteboards and blackboards is not one that the Gods of Math-Whizz have been following closely of late.
Even so, the Gods noticed a short piece by Slate.com’s Green Lantern discussing the environmental impact of either device.
There’s a brand new pet in the Whizz Shop!
Get your hoots on with the Whizz Owl.
.gif)
Login to our math tutor at www.whizz.us/login.
If you don’t have an account, create an account there and start earning the credits to buy yourself this handsome winged beast!
