Measuring: MATEAMIGO

Hello everyone!

In today's post I want to talk about some math books to use in our classes and complement all previous posts of this blog. The collection of books is called "The Mateamigos" and uses as a protagonist a few children to introduce us through different adventures in the world of mathematics.

There are two levels within the collection, one would be for fifth grade students and another for sixth grade students. Inside we can find many activities that mix the reality of everyday life with the adventures of these friends, as well as the history of famous mathematicians, as well as the things they discovered. It has another section of challenges and self-assessment so that students can evaluate the knowledge they are acquiring.

The units present a thread that depends on the course is one or the other, but they do not let us lose the sensation of being in the adventure with the Mateamigos. The difference it has with normal textbooks is that it is working all the blocks that are established in the curriculum in all units, so we would not stop giving any block if we do not have time to reach all of them at the end of the course.

In the fifth book he uses gamification to move from one unit to another, which will motivate the little ones much more. On the other hand, in the sixth book presents activities to work with Geogebra, thus making use of ICT.

As a last nuance, we can verify that it has a transversal character since it uses elements of other subjects such as history, natural or social to give the different contents.

I hope you enjoyed this entry!

Marta 

Measuring: TEMPERATURE

Hello everyone!

📽️ In today's post, we will comment on the following video: Érase una vez... Newton. This video lasts about 25 minutes. In this happens the same as the last one, we are not going to find out specific contexts talking about measurment issues, but we, as a teachers, have to think about a way to introduce the topic, and in the following lines I am going to give you some clues to do it. 

First of all, we must create a context where we explain our students that the video that we are going to see speaks about several important and transversal contents between subjects but at the end of it we will focus on one of them.

This time our friends talk about all the discoveries that Newton made.

In this class we will do games and activities to introduce the topic to the students. All the contents in the video are related with the history and physics subjects, so you can mix the classes so as to the students do not lose the motivation but to review and learn new contents. In addition, we will do 1 experiment, as in the previous classes.

⚗️ EXPERIMENT: before carrying out the following experiment we must explain to the students the concepts of temperature. For this we can use the different resources we have in class, such as ICT resources or textbooks.

Then we will ask the students to bring the different materials we need, which are cardboard and a candle that you can bring so that the students do not have to buy it.

The following video explains in detail how to make the spiral and the procedure to follow so that it rotates, but in class you can do the following for students to work with the measurement concept.
Separate the class into cooperative work groups and give the groups different lengths so that the spirals are of different sizes. On the other hand do not let all the students have a compass so that they look for different ways to create the spiral without using the compass but still have the requested length. Finally, let them decorate it as they want and try the experiment.

I hope you enjoyed this entry!

Marta 

Measuring: PEAS PART 2

Hello everyone!

📽️ In today's post, we will comment on the following video: Érase una vez... Mendel y los guisantes. This video lasts about 25 minutes. In this happens the same as the last one, we are not going to find out specific contexts talking about measurment issues, but we, as a teachers, have to think about a way to introduce the topic, and in the following lines I am going to give you some clues to do it. 

First of all, we must create a context where we explain our students that the video that we are going to see speaks about several important and transversal contents between subjects but at the end of it we will focus on one of them.

This time our friends talk about the genetic, and the Teacher will be in charge of explaining who Mendel was and what he did in relation with statistics.

In this class we will do games and activities to introduce the topic to the students. All the contents in the video are related with the history and natural science subject, so you can mix the classes so as to the students do not lose the motivation but to review and learn new contents. In addition, we will do 1 experiment, as in the previous classes.

After watching the video it is important to make an introduction in the topic, it is necessary to explain the contents that we will deal with. For that reason, we can use this web page where the statictis are explained, so we can explain in a brief introduction how we will do the exercises below.

⚗️ EXPERIMENT: the following proposed experiment can be done in different ways. In order to see what they do in class can be extrapolated to everyday life, they will carry out a survey within the school or the cycle they belong to. First of all, we have to lay the foundations of the research we want to develop, that is, to focus with the students on the subject of our study, such as how many students eat peas, how many of them eat honey, how many students have cultivated peas and how many of them know how to make recipes with honey, in this way we are introducing the video. It is here when different ways of collecting data enter.

On the one hand, the students can go through the questionnaire classes for their classmates to fill them out, but then I will propose two more innovative and fun ways to do it.

The first is that students make a form from the tool offered by Google, the rest of their classmates can fill it out through computers and tablets at school. This application also offers diagrams with the percentages and results of the answers.

The second option is to use the Plickers application to collect the data, students should only lift a card with a QR code that is scanned and pour the data onto a platform.

I hope you enjoyed this entry!

Marta 

Measuring: SURFACES AND VOLUMEN PART 2

Hello everyone!

📽️ In today's post, we will comment on the following video: Érase una vez... Galileo. This video lasts about 25 minutes. Unlike the last video, in this one we are not going to find out specific contexts talking about measurment issues, but we, as a teachers, have to think about a way to introduce the topic, and in the following lines I am going to give you some clues to do it. 

First of all, we must create a context where we explain our students that the video that we are going to see speaks about several important and transversal contents between subjects but that at the end of it we will focus on one of them.

This time our friends will not travel anywhere, but the Teacher will be in charge of explaining who Galileo was and what he did to be so famous in the world of mathematics, all this will take us to the topic of flat surfaces and volumes measurements.

In this class we will do games and activities to introduce the topic to the students. All the contents in the video are related with the history and natural science subject, so you can mix the classes so as to the students do not lose the motivation but to review and learn new contents. In addition, we will do 1 experiment, as in the previous classes.

After watching the video it is important to make an introduction in the topic, it is necessary to explain the contents that we will deal with. For that reason, we can use this web page where the measure, surfaces and volumen are explained, so we can explain in a brief introduction how we will do the exercises below.

⚗️ EXPERIMENT: for the different experiments that we are going to carry out, we must previously do an investigation with the students about what we are going to work on. In this case, we will tell the students that we are going to build a pendulum and a telescope like Galileo did, and for that we must look for geometric bodies we need, as well as their measurements and materials. First of all, we will build the telescope, in order to do that we can help ourselves from this web page where it is explained how to do it, also I enclose this video where it is also explained step by step how to create it.

From my point of view, it would be very interesting to create a tracking file where students can see the different steps of the process and we can give the measurements that each part of the telescope must have to work with them.

In order to create the pendulum we will follow the same process as with the telescope, creating a file, looking for the geometric bodies that compose it, as well as establishing some measures so that the students can work with them. In this case, we can change the measurements to kilometers, so that they must make conversions and work as previously studied. In the following web page you will find all the information to carry out the practice, and as always I also leave you a video where you can see the construction process. Moreover, in this web page you can find different exercises to do with the pendulum.

I hope you enjoyed this entry and you have accompanied us to the stars!

Marta 

📖 GLOSSARY: 

Pendulum: is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward the equilibrium position. When released, the restoring force acting on the pendulum's mass causes it to oscillate about the equilibrium position, swinging back and forth. The time for one complete cycle, a left swing and a right swing, is called the period. The period depends on the length of the pendulum and also to a slight degree on the amplitude, the width of the pendulum's swing.

Telescope: is an optical instrument that makes distant objects appear magnified by using an arrangement of lenses or curved mirrors and lenses, or various devices used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. The first known practical telescopes were refracting telescopes invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 17th century, by using glass lenses. They were used for both terrestrial applications and astronomy.

Measuring: THE TIME PART 2

Hello everyone!

📽️ In today's post, we will comment on the following video: Érase una vez... La medición del tiempo. This first part lasts about 25 minutes. As we talked about in the previous post, in it we are going to find out our friends discovering the measure of time in different parts of the world, as well as in different periods of time in the human life.

As we said in the previous post, although we found enough content related to the topic we want to work on, as an introduction is being made to the topic, in class we will do the same with the students, thus making an introduction to Measurement. Therefore, the type of game or activities that we do for this part must be motivating for the students and that they transmit curiosity to know the contents that will come next in the subject.

Since our friends in the video travel through the time, we will tell the students that we will also do a journey to these ages in order to know "how did they measure the time?" In this class we will do games and activities to introduce the measure to the students. All these contents are related with the history subject, so you can mix the classes so as to the students do not lose the motivation but to review and learn new contents. In addition, we will do 3 experiments, with which the students will be fascinated and motivated for later classes.

First of all, it is important to make an introduction in the topic, it is necessary to explain the contents that we will deal with. For that reason, we can use this web page where the conversion of units in the time system is explained, so we can explain to the students in a brief introduction how we will do the exercises below.

⚗️ EXPERIMENT: for the experiments that we are going to carry out in class we will continue working the measurement of time but this time the students will build their own clocks. In the video we can see the different clocks that have existed in history until reaching the current "smartwatches", but to understand what we have now we must look back in time.

That is why the first watch that we will create will be a solar one, the manufacture of this watch is very simple so students can do it in groups or in pairs. In the following link you will find all the information to do it, so I leave this video where you can see the manufacturing process.

The next watch that we will build will be the water clock or clepsydra, following the timeline created in the history and in the video. This clock is also very easy to do, being able to follow the same grouping as in the previous one. The following video explains step by step how to create it as well as the necessary materials for it.

Finally, we will create an hourglass. As I said before, in this link I leave you a video where you can see the creation process.

I hope you stay and help us in this exciting trip through The Time!

Marta 

📖 GLOSSARY: clepsydra: in ancient times the sun was used to measure time during the day, but sundials weren't much help after dark, so peoples around the world invented clocks that used dripping water to mark the hours. In one kind of water clock, possibly invented by the Chaldeans, a vessel was filled with water that was allowed to escape through a hole. The vessel's inside was marked with graduated lines, and the time was read by measuring the level of the remaining water. The ancient Greeks called their water clocks "klepsydra" ("water thief"), which comes from "kleptein" ("to steal") and "hydōr" ("water"). English speakers stole "clepsydra" from the Greeks in the 16th century, but actual water clocks have become increasingly rare.

Measuring: AS HERÓN DE ALEJANDRÍA DID

Hello everyone!

📽️ In today's post, we will comment on the fifth video: Érase una vez... Heron de Alejandría. This video lasts about 25 minutes. In this happens the same as the last one, we are not going to find out specific contexts talking about measurment issues, but we, as a teachers, have to think about a way to introduce the topic, and in the following lines I am going to give you some clues to do it. 

First of all, we must create a context where we explain our students that the video that we are going to see speaks about several important and transversal contents between subjects but at the end of it we will focus on one of them.

This time our friends talk about the some aspects relate with mathmatics, and the Teacher will be in charge of explaining who Herón de Alejandría was and what he did in relation with the steam machine.

In this class we will do games and activities to introduce the topic to the students. All the contents in the video are related with the history and mathematics subjects, so you can mix the classes so as to the students do not lose the motivation but to review and learn new contents. 

After watching the video it is important to make an introduction in the topic, it is necessary to explain the contents that we will deal with. For that reason, we can use this web page where the steam machine is explained.

📝 ACTIVITY 1: in this first activity, we will work with Heron's formula to calculate the area of a triangle. First, I leave you a web page and a YouTube video that explains the steps to follow to calculate it and the formulas you need. Secondly, I am going to propose an exercise to carry out in class about what we are learning. Inside the classroom we have different ways that the students can measure, so we can take the ones that have a triangle shape and that the students measure the area of these using the formula of Heron..

📝 ACTIVITY 2: in this second activity I propose a game. The cartography is mentioned in the video, something that will be new for the students, but it can serve as a link to learn it and work with it. we all know the famous game "sink the fleet", because here I leave you several different ways to play with it to learn the coordinates or the different units.

This page shows how to work with the coordinates and how to create our boards. We can use the themes that remain and the students will have a great time creating the boards and then playing with them, without forgetting at all times everything they are learning.

On the other hand, to work with the smallest we can use this grid with units and tens, that for the older ones we can personalize with another type of unit such as time, mass or distance.

I hope you enjoyed this entry!

Marta 

Measuring: AS ARQUÍMEDES DID

Hello everyone!

📽️ In today's post, we will comment on the forth video: Érase una vez... Arquímedes. This video lasts about 25 minutes. In this happens the same as the last one, we are not going to find out specific contexts talking about measurment issues, but we, as a teachers, have to think about a way to introduce the topic, and in the following lines I am going to give you some clues to do it. 

First of all, we must create a context where we explain our students that the video that we are going to see speaks about several important and transversal contents between subjects but at the end of it we will focus on one of them.

This time our friends talk about the mass, volume and density, and the Teacher will be in charge of explaining who Arquímedes was and what he did in relation with mathematics.

In this class we will do games and activities to introduce the topic to the students. All the contents in the video are related with the history and physics subjects, so you can mix the classes so as to the students do not lose the motivation but to review and learn new contents. In addition, we will do 2 experiment, as in the previous classes.

After watching the video it is important to make an introduction in the topic, it is necessary to explain the contents that we will deal with. For that reason, we can use this web page where who was Arquímedes is explained, and then, students can do a little research about the things Arquímedes created which appear in the video.

⚗️ EXPERIMENT 1: for the first activity we will do a series of experiments with the students to work with the concepts of mass, weight, volume and density. In the following PDF you will find everything you need to know to carry them out, both the materials and their procedures. It is very important to carry out experiments in the classroom so that students can see the theory in practice and thus strengthen the knowledge we want them to learn..

📝 ACTIVITY 2: the area and surface of some objects is reflected in the video, can be used as an opportunity to review this knowledge. Since we assume that the students have already learned this thanks to the work we did in other classes that we explained some time ago, we can simply review the contents. Here I leave a series of activities and experiments that can be carried out to review the contents.

I hope you enjoyed this entry!

Marta