Here are 9 engaging videos from Ted Ed featuring math ideas worth talking about. Grab your teen, pick a video and give the quizzes a go!

1. How Folding Paper Can Get You to the Moon

The incredible potential associated with exponential growth can be seen through this video that explores the simple folding of paper. Can you get to the moon when you fold one piece of paper forty-five times? Quizzes and points for discussion can be found at http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-folding-paper-can-get-you-to-the-moon

2. How Many Universes Are There?

Chris Anderson explores how physics increases the understanding of reality itself. No one knows exactly how many universes are in existence making this a great question for teens to explore. Quizzes and points for discussion can be found at http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-many-universes-are-there

3. Deb Roy: The birth of a word

Deb Roy, a researcher for MIT placed video camera around his home to show how a child’s language skills develop naturally over time. Watch this nice summary of over 90,000 hours of video to show how a simple “gaaaa” turns into the word “water.” Quizzes and points for discussion can be found at http://ed.ted.com/lessons/deb-roy-the-birth-of-a-word

4. Marcus du Sautoy: Symmetry Reality’s Riddle

From an arabesque’s dizzying beauty to subatomic particles, symmetry is what makes the world go round. Marcus du Sautory, an Oxford mathematician gives us a glimpse at what connects symmetrical objects. Quizzes and points for discussion can be found at http://ed.ted.com/lessons/marcus-du-sautoy-symmetry-reality-s-riddle.

5. Kevin Alloca: Why Videos Go Viral

YouTube’s trends manager shares his thoughts on the web’s silly videos giving four of the reasons that videos end up going viral. Quizzes and points for discussion can be found at http://ed.ted.com/lessons/kevin-alloca-why-videos-go-viral.

6. Peter Donnelly shows how stats fool juries

The mistakes that regularly occur when human beings interpret statistics are pointed out by Oxford mathematician Peter Donnelly. He also shows how devastating the impact can be when criminal trials are affected by these errors. Quizzes and points for discussion can be found at http://ed.ted.com/lessons/peter-donnelly-shows-how-stats-fool-juries.

7. Kevin Slavin: How Algorithms Shape Our World

The world is controlled by algorithms and Kevin Slavin shows us how complex programs on computers can find the price of stocks, architecture, movie scripts and tactics used in espionage. We are warned that the outcome is out of our control when we do not understand the code that we have written. Quizzes and points for discussion can be found at http://ed.ted.com/lessons/kevin-slavin-how-algorithms-shape-our-world.

8. The Beauty of Data Visualization

Simple diagrams are used to show patterns and connections not typically seen in complex sets of data such as status updates to Facebook, media buzz and military spending. Quizzes and points for discussion can be found at http://ed.ted.com/lessons/david-mccandless-the-beauty-of-data-visualization.

9. Hans Rosling shows the Best Stats You’ve Ever Seen

Hans Rosling uses the urgency and drama of a sportscaster as he lays the myths surrounding the developing world to rest by presenting data in a way you have never before seen. My personal favorite! Quizzes and points ofr discussion can be found at http://ed.ted.com/lessons/hans-rosling-shows-the-best-stats-you-ve-ever-seen.

The cool people at compare4kids.co.uk have created a tough 15 day Mental Math Bootcamp app to get your kids (and your!) mental math skills in tip top shape. Check it out below!

Some useful tips:

• Your child can change their answer as many times as they want within the time limit for each question
• They’ll need to press enter/return once they’ve written their answer

Although it’s a 15 day bootcamp, if your child repeats the day until they can get 18/20 (the app let’s you see the correct answers at the end of each test) they’ll truly become a mental math master!

I only got 17/20 first time round! It’s not easy – that pesky timer moves fast (and I was helping my 5 year old with his homework while doing the test – excuses, excuses!)

Grab your pre-teen and get practising!

(If you’re one of my over 1300 subscribers reading this in your email browser, you may have to click here to see the full post with the mental math app)

For targeted times tables practise check out Maths Insider’s 31 Days to Faster Times Tables

Don’t keep it to yourself! Share this Mental Math Bootcamp with other parents of pre-teens!

1. They Might Be Giants Nonagon

2. If You Subtract With a Pirate

3. Hip Hop Around the Clock

4. Counting Down From Twenty

5. Even Numbers

6. Shapes song

7. Measure Yeah Measure

8. Counting by Five

9. What Makes 10

10. Show Me The Money

A war based on who’s right and who’s wrong when it comes to your child’s math education. Western countries such as the US and the UK fall far behind the Eastern powerhouses of China and Singapore when it comes to Math (did you see the US vs Them infographic I published recently?) and there’s a battle going on in Education circles around the world as to the best way to make sure your child will have the strong math skills needed to compete in the global economy.

The following quotes are from an interview at  EducationNext.org with W. Stephen Wilson. Wurman, who was a U.S. Department of Education official  and is coauthor with Sandra Stotsky of “Common Core’s Standards Still Don’t Make the Grade.”

There will always be people who think that calculators work just fine and there is no need to teach much arithmetic, thus making career decisions for 4th graders that the students should make for themselves in college. Downplaying the development of pencil and paper number sense might work for future shoppers, but doesn’t work for students headed for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields.

There will always be the anti-memorization crowd who think that learning the multiplication facts to the point of instant recall is bad for a student, perhaps believing that it means students can no longer understand them. Of course this permanently slows students down, plus it requires students to think about 3rd-grade mathematics when they are trying to solve a college-level problem.

There will always be the standard algorithm deniers, the first line of defense for those who are anti-standard algorithms being just deny they exist. Some seem to believe it is easier to teach “high-level critical thinking” than it is to teach the standard algorithms with understanding. The standard algorithms for adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing whole numbers are the only rich, powerful, beautiful theorems you can teach elementary school kids, and to deny kids these theorems is to leave kids unprepared. Avoiding hard mathematics with young students does not prepare them for hard mathematics when they are older.

There will always be people who believe that you do not understand mathematics if you cannot write a coherent essay about how you solved a problem, thus driving future STEM students away from mathematics at an early age. A fairness doctrine would require English language arts (ELA) students to write essays about the standard algorithms, thus also driving students away from ELA at an early age. The ability to communicate is NOT essential to understanding mathematics.

There will always be people who think that you must be able to solve problems in multiple ways. This is probably similar to thinking that it is important to teach creativity in mathematics in elementary school, as if such a thing were possible. Forget creativity; the truly rare student is the one who can solve straightforward problems in a straightforward way.

There will always be people who think that statistics and probability are more important than arithmetic and algebra, despite the fact that you can’t do statistics and probability without arithmetic and algebra and that you will never see a question about statistics or probability on a college placement exam, thus making statistics and probability irrelevant for college preparation.

There will always be people who think that teaching kids to “think like a mathematician,” whether they have met a mathematician or not, can be done independently of content….They are wrong. You learn Mathematical Practices just like the name implies; you practice mathematics with content.

There will always be people who think that teaching kids about geometric slides, flips, and turns is just as important as teaching them arithmetic. It isn’t. Ask any college math teacher.

Some brief additional points from the Maths Insider viewpoint:

• Calculators are great but without mental arithmetic fluency, kids won’t be able to spot mistakes made by pressing the wrong keys and finger counting does not equal arithmetic fluency 
• Kids just need to know their times tables off pat as early as possible and definitely before they hit 11 years old.
• Although kids don’t need to be able to write mathematical essays, they should be able to talk with ease about the math in the world around them
• Children need to know early on that those cool careers they dream of (and the careers of the future) will likely need math

I’m joining W. Stephen Wilson’s side in this Math Ed war. Whose side are you on?

Often, kids say that the subject that they “hate” the most is math. Math can be difficult for some students because they just don’t understand the way that math works. I know for myself, math was never something that came easy. I had to spend agonizing hours over a couple of problems when I was in high school. Now that I have my own children, I realize their pain. However, instead of thinking negatively about math, there has been research that has shown that children are much more adapt to learning math than you think. Here is the top research that has been done.

1.    Girls verbal skills make them better at arithmetic.

In a study published in Psychological Science, it has found that girls can do better at math because of their verbal skills. Encourage your little girl to talk about the math she’s doing.
2.    Puzzle Play Improves Math Skills

In a study done at Chicago University, by psychologist Susan Levine and colleagues found that 2-4 year-old children, who play with puzzles, have better spatial skills when assessed at 4 1/2 years of age. After controlling for differences in parents’ income, education and overall amount of parent language input, researchers say puzzle play proved to be a significant predictor of spatial skills–skills important in mathematics, science and technology and a key aspect of cognition.
3.    1st grade math skills are important to target

Studies done at the University of Missouri have shown that students that have a better grasp of their 1st grade math principles do better in later math courses. Help your child review these important first grademath principles.
4.    Calming students down helps them do better in math.

In a brain study done by the University of Chicago shows that when students get to a hard math problem, their anxiety goes up, if students are able to calm themselves down, they lessen their anxiety and perform better. According to further research One way to relieve this burden on working memory,is to spend ten minutes writing about one’s thoughts and feelings about a math exam just before taking it
5.    For students to get better at math, they need better teachers.

In a Michigan State University article, it argues that students in the United States are being surpassed by their peers in other countries. For US students to catch up, the caliber and status of teachers needs to be higher.
6.    Preschooler’s that grasp numbers well, perform better in math higher up the school.

A study done by the Kenny Krieger Institute shows that students that are able to estimate quantities well, often do better in math in elementary school. Help your children by counting with them out loud and ensuring they understand counting.
7.    Just because your child’s math teacher has a PhD in advanced mathematics doesn’t mean they’re a good teacher.

In a paper published in the journal, Science, Dr. Brent Davis argues that those math teachers with advanced math degrees doesn’t necessarily make them the best teachers for your child.

8.    A poor sense of numbers will plague students in the long run.

In a new study published in the journal Child Development, shows that students that have a bad “gut sense” of numbers will have a hard time with math in the future. It can also be an indication of math learning disabilities.
9.   A math disability is linked to problems relating quantities to numerals.

In a study by the National Institutes of Health has shown that children in elementary school that have a hard time with numbers, such as determining numbers on a page, are more likely to be diagnosed with a math learning disability in the 5th grade. Always stay on top of your child’s math skills.
10.  Gender isn’t as important as one may have thought with math.

In a major study done at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, it shows that girls and boys perform the same on math tests. One gender isn’t better at math than the other!

There are tons of myths that just aren’t true when it comes to children and math. Encourage your children to do well in math. Math is a valuable skill that will be used for many things that your children will do.

About the Author:
 Neltje M is a writer for MyCriminalJusticeCareers.com. If you are interested in criminal justice careers,  such as becoming a forensic psychologist, this site can help you.

According to Math Awareness Month:

“Massive amounts of data are collected every day, often from services we use regularly, but never think about. Scientific data comes in massive amounts from sensor networks, astronomical instruments, biometric devices, etc., and needs to be sorted out and understood. Personal data from our Google searches, our Facebook or Twitter activities, our credit card purchases, our travel habits, and so on, are being mined to provide information and insight. These data sets provide great opportunities, and pose dangers as well.”

As a fan of data and of infographics in particular, I’ve collected 10 conversation-starting infographics which offer interesting insights into math, education and math education. Which one will you talk about this week?

(If you’re reading this in your email inbox, you may need to enable images to see the cool charts below, or click http://www.mathsinsider.com/math-infographics to view the post in your browser.)

1. Emphasis on Math and Science by Immigrant Parents

Source:LiveScience

2. US vs Them: How the US stacks up against other countries in standardized tests

Courtesy of: Online Schools

3. When Am I Going to Use Math?

4. A Teacher’s Worth Around the World

Via:Master-Degree-Online.com

5. American STEM

Brought to you by Teach.com | Become a Teacher and MAT@USC | Master’s of Arts in Teaching

6. Blended Learning – A disruptive innovation

Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

7. STEM education: Does America Have the Right Stuff

Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

8. Girls are Smarter Than Boys

Created by: Engineering Degree

9. The Math-Science Shortage

Created by: EngineeringDegree.net

10. Education’s Effect on Income

Via: DegreeSearch.org

Have you ever played Hanging with Friends?

It’s a phone/tablet app based on the word guessing game Hangman. I’m playing it too much these days, but what makes it strangely addictive is the amount of choice the game gives you when offering clues to your opponent’s word. You can revive a strike, get rid of some incorrect letters or reveal some correct letters. The whole game actually gives the feeling of being in control of whether or not you lose!

So it was interesting when I got an email from a mum who’s just started using the Faster Times Tables program with her 15 year old daughter and she mentioned that:

“I had her watch the video and told her to choose a couple of those methods that she was willing to use.”

Sometimes as parents we’re so set on giving our kids instructions, orders and advice from our own perspective that when it comes to math, we forget that our children can have different learning styles than us. So next time you’re trying to figure out how to fit some math into your child’s schedule, try giving them a choice. Do they prefer worksheets, a textbook, videos, games, oral work, an iPhone app? Share the cost and time implications with them, even your 4 year old might prefer whizzing through a worksheet to waiting for a math game to load.

The 31 Days to Faster Times Tables Program includes worksheets, audio and 31 different ways of practising the times tables, as well as videos with advice on the different ways to use the program.

It’s also got a 60 day money back guarantee so you can show your child the video and see if there’s any methods that they’d be willing to use.

Now let me get back to guessing that word……

Yes, it’s true! The things that you do, both big and small to help your child with their school work have a greater effect than what schools do!

Don’t believe it? Well let’s see the facts:

According  to the headline in this week’s Daily Telegraph (a British newspaper):

Parents ‘have bigger impact on exam results than schools’

Teenagers’ exam results are more likely to be influenced by their parents than their school, according to research.

The Royal Economic Society followed teenagers for 8 years between 2002 and 2010 and paid close attention to those teenagers who changed schools at the age of 16. After taking into account the student’s characteristics, family situation and their schools, the researchers found that particularly in Math and Science “parental impact on results was far higher than that for schools themselves.”

What I find even more inspiring is that the study also found that the effect families had on their child’s exam results was not dependent on household income.

How can you impact your child’s math?

• Be positive about math
• Spend a small amount of time regularly talking about real life math
• Help your child solidify their basic mental math skills
• Slot some math games in between Angry Birds and DrawSome on a phone or tablet
• Check out an online math program to see if it can fill in gaps in their knowledge and give them some regular practice
• Go read some math

Make that difference!

#mathchat is twitter tag that’s used by teachers, educators, students and anyone else interested in math education, to highlight conversations related to  math education. It’s also a great way for parents to find out about the latest resources, ideas and techniques in math education.

Check out the Infographic below, Life of a Hashtag to see the activity and influencers of #mathchat, then find out how you can use #mathchat to get ideas to help you support your child’s math.

(Click here to see the full post if you can’t see the infographic in your email browser.)

create infographics with visual.ly

#mathchat doesn’t only exist on Twitter

Don’t worry if you’re not a Twitter user. You can still follow #mathchat online:

The Mathchat website maintained by Colin Graham is the online home of #mathchat. There you’ll find:

• times and dates for the next live #mathchat Twitter chats,
• searchable archives of previous live chats,
• resources highlighted by the #mathchat community
• weekly polls for you to vote on what you want the next #mathchat live chat topic to be

You can also follow the daily highlights of #mathchat in the online newspaper The #mathchat Daily 

So even if you’re not on Twitter, you can still find out what everyone is talking about in math education through #mathchat.

(For ideas on other hashtags to follow for insightful math ideas see my post How to Use Twitter to Find Great Math Resources and Ideas)

For those of you on Twitter, you can find me at @mathsinsider

photo credit: Carlos Porto

“I’ve never known any trouble than an hour’s reading didn’t assuage.”
Arthur Schopenhauer

Go read some math

Math Storybooks. Sounds a bit weird? As parents we’re used to reading to our young children as often as we can, and telling our older kids to “Go and read a book!” and who doesn’t yearn for just a few minutes in the day to catch up with our own reading. We all know the importance of books and reading, however I have just one plea when it comes to your family’s reading:

Try to read some math!

• For adults, the Freakonomics books are a fun way to look at how statistics are not always how they appear.
• Teens and preteens usually love the Murderous Maths books, with their comic book treatment of math.
• My kids love Spaghetti and Meatballs For All, which explores perimeter, area and multiplication in this slap-stick tale. There’s even a parent’s guide at the end.

The best thing about math story books is that kids can enjoy them even if they cover topics which are mathematically advanced for them. Julie Brennan who runs the Living Math Yahoo E-list explains

“kids do NOT have be developmentally ready to master a concept to benefit from being exposed to more advanced concepts in them. We don’t sanitize our daily conversations with our kids of every word or grammatical construction we don’t think they are ready to understand; we use vocabulary and ideas above their heads all the time in language which, when they are ready, they will understand. Most of our language skills are not learned from direct teaching; they are learned from immersion – frequent exposure in many different contexts.”

How can I find cool math story books for my kids?

You can find math stories in many bookstores; try looking in the kid’s science section. For help in choosing the best math storybooks for your children, try the following websites:

1. Search “math stories” on Amazon featuring customer reviews and the “Look Inside” so you can get a feel for the tone and style of the books.
2. Click the Maths Insider Amazon Store where you’ll find my personal recommendations, many from my own bookshelf.
3. Check out the Living Math Reader Lists, an extensive list of categorized Math Readers, great if you’re looking for a story that supports a particular math topic.
4. Browse Beth’s Bookshelf, and read math storybook detailed reviews and tips on how to take the discussion of the main points from the story further.

Banish the fear of fractions and the perils of place value by exposing yourself and your children to some math stories this week.

Go read some math!