Tag: data

512 Paths to the White House Interactive Infographic for the Election #election2012

Kelly Tenkely2 Comments on 512 Paths to the White House Interactive Infographic for the Election #election20123394 views

What it is: Tomorrow is Election day!  I couldn’t be more excited to see an end to the obnoxious political ads. Living in a swing state means that EVERY commercial I see is a political ad. At this point, all I have been convinced of is that the world may in fact be ending…the choices here are dire. One thing I am now passionate about: campaign reform. I digress.

512 Paths to the White House is a super cool interactive feature on the New York Times website.  Students can test out selecting a winner for the swing states and see the paths to victory available to either candidate.  Students can also mouse over the infographic and see what happens in the breakdown of each option.  According to the infographic, there are 5 paths to a tie.

How to integrate 512 Paths to the White House into the classroom: This really is a cool infographic to explore before the election.  Students can explore this infographic on classroom computers as an Election Day discovery center, as a class on an interactive whiteboard or projector-connected computer, or individually on computers.

This site makes a wonderful opening to discussion about the electoral college, the election process for the US, and why the swing states determine the outcome of the election.  At the bottom of the page, there are some specific scenarios for students to explore.  These scenarios also open up great conversations about economies in different states, beliefs of each party, political advertising, liberal vs. conservative states, etc.

In the secondary math class, students can explore probability, statistics and unpack the data offered here.  It is pretty interesting to see the paths each candidate has to winning based on who wins each battleground state.

Tips: Follow up on Wednesday, November 7th with how accurate the 512 Paths to the White House was.  Students can use this tool as they watch the election to predict who the winner will be.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using  512 Paths to the White House in your classroom.

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Math Live

Kelly Tenkely11 Comments on Math Live4119 views

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What it is: In honor of World Math Day (which takes place tomorrow 3/3/10) I decided to pass on a fantastic math website that I learned about from The Techie Classroom Blog (one of the amazing blogs taking part in the edublogger alliance).  Math Live has a collection of animated cartoons that teach students math concepts.  3rd through 6th grade students can learn about numbers, patterns and relations, shape and space, and statistics and probability.  These cartoons are extremely high quality and teach key math concepts through story.  Students can watch videos on place value, multiples, factors, primes, proper fractions, equivalent fractions, comparing and ordering fractions, comparing and ordering decimals, addition and subtraction of decimals, multiplication of whole numbers, division of whole numbers, multiplication and division of decimals, patterns, area and perimeter, volume, time, triangles, polygons, sides, tessellations, ordered pairs, displaying data, probability and estimating.  The videos show students real-world applications of math concepts.  The videos are chunked really well and stop periodically so that students can think about and discuss their thoughts on the math concept.  The videos have outstanding visuals that explain the concepts succinctly.  Each video is accompanied by an Activity Sheet (read worksheet), an assessment, and Teacher/Parent Notes.  The Teacher Notes include a great section with “Common mistakes students make” to help teachers avoid common pitfalls when teaching.  They also include great ideas for additional practice of the concepts.  Math Live gives students an excellent animated, interactive math glossary.  As students are viewing a video lesson, they can access either the master glossary (with all of the sites vocabulary) or visit the lesson glossary (with only the vocabulary from the lesson).  I am really impressed with the glossary.

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How to integrate Math Live into the classroom: Math is a hard subject for many students.  It can be difficult for students to understand how math relates to real life.  Math Live videos are a great way to help students break down math into manageable pieces.  It illustrates each concept very well.  Students who struggle with math are going to LOVE this site.  It allows them to pause, rewind, and revisit concepts as many times as they need to so that they can master a concept.  These videos would be an excellent way to introduce new math concepts to the whole class using a projector or interactive whiteboard.  They can also be used as a math center on classroom computers or individually in the computer lab.  Keep Math Live handy for students struggling with these concepts or to quickly access math vocabulary in the glossary.

The list of concepts covered is limited, as an extension activity, have students create their own math movie using a tool like Xtranormal or Kerpoof Movie.

Tips: Send Math Live home to parents, these videos could be a tremendous help for homework time.  Often parents struggle with explaining math to their children, this could be a big help!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Math Live in your classroom.