How to Use Twitter to Find Great Maths Resources and Ideas
Of course I’d heard of Twitter 3 months ago, before I started blogging, but I could already read about what my friends were having for breakfast, using facebook, why would I want to compound this, and find out what strangers were having for breakfast, by joining Twitter?
Let me tell you why I was (mostly) wrong!
I say mostly because I’m sure that the great majority of tweets (Twitter updates) are of a personal nature, but if I tell you that, as well as Oprah, Britney Spears, Stephen Fry and those cool arty types who hang out in coffee shops; The New York Times, Oxford University and Barack Obama all have active Twitter feeds.
But mathematically…
Some of the people I follow on Twitter are Alex Bellos, the author of Alex’s Adventures in Numberland, Stand up Maths, a comedian who performs maths shows and Maria Droujikova, a homeschooling maths professor and educational consultant. Their tweets and the links they tweet, educate me, provide blog post ideas and food for thought on everything mathematical and maths education in general. (I also follow Super Nanny – I do have 4 children after all!)
The Hashtag is the key
When people tweet, they sometimes add a “#” sign , which is called a hashtag, in their post, to draw attention to the topic of the post. Typing #education 
in the search box will present you with a list of tweets related to education.
If you search #breakfast you get a list of tweets where the author wants to draw attention to something breakfast related!
Most of the people I follow, I’d never heard of or met ,before joining Twitter. I found them by searching hashtags, seeing that they were tweeting interesting things, and then starting to follow them.
Try these twitter hashtags for great maths resources
#math or #maths
The most obvious one to begin with, but gives a wide variety of results, from teenagers announcing the status of how their maths exam went, to links to useful maths websites.
#mathchat
Maths teachers exchanging teaching ideas, some of which can be used by parents. Find out more about The Secret Life of #Mathchat
#edutech
Teachers using technology in the classroom and to share teaching ideas. Often there is information here about online conferences for educators.
#gifted
Ideas and research from organisations and individuals about supporting gifted children.
#homeschooling
These parents are supporting their kids learning on a daily basis – there’s lots to learn from them.
#preschool and #teachpreschool
Lots of ideas for teaching our little ones.
Not ready to join Twitter yet?
I don’t want to be one to give you another task to add to your online life, so I’ll just draw your attention to my Twitter feed in the right sidebar.
There you’ll find my tweets, which contain fantastically useful information and links from the twitterverse for folks like you who want to support your kids maths.
And just to get it out of my system and so I don’t pollute my Twitter feed – today, for #breakfast, pancakes with honey.
What Maths Ideas have you found on Twitter?
Tell me in the comments below!
This post also features in Works For Me Wednesday
I too have found that Twitter is a great place to find like-minded people. I search the hashtags fibromyalgia, chronic illness and ChronicBabe, among others. I have ‘met’ and become friends with a lot of really nice people through Twitter all over the world. It seems like you have too! :-)
Yes, the contacts are valuable. It’s worth using as an alternative search engine since much of the info is up to the minute.
Great idea! I have a “mathy” kid and sometimes need extra resources. Thanks!
I mostly search for maths (and sometimes parenting) resources but I’m sure I could use the same idea to search for recipes or blogging info! Thanks for passing by!
You can add #gtchat to your hashtag list. In fact, it will return much better results than #gifted. I’m a GT Specialist who has been asked to take on the responsibilities of a Math Specialist at my elementary school so expect me to tune into #math and #maths and #mathchat to build up my PLN. Thanks for the post.
Thanks for letting us know about the #gtchat, I be taking a look at that one myself! Thanks for sharing!