Was Belicheck's math right when he said: "I thought it was our best chance to win."

Was Bellichick's math right when he said "it was our best chance to win." I agree with him. Kick or pass: Which was a higher probability? Anyone want to offer an analysis?

Here's mine.

Probability of Patriots getting a first down on 4th and 2? I say 90%. It's only a guess but given the Patriots football prowess along with the element of surprise, I say they would have made it on average 9 out of every 10 times they tried it. On the other hand, punting to the Manning machine is a shaky 50-50 proposition at best. Also, what are the chances the receiver would bobble the ball? Video of play.

What do you think?

WCYDWT (What can you do with this): How Big is the Gorilla?

Here's a good slide to show to start a conversation about decimals with your class. The first question that comes to my mind is: So, really, how big is this gorilla? What are some of the questions that come to your mind?

Most textbookish review sections for decimals are pretty boring. How might this help? Putting a common idea in a interesting, surprising way will get the kids attention. Now how do achieve your math objective with that?

Source: Wired Magazine (Nov. 2009) p. 45. I had to scan it; couldn't find it on the Web.)

WCYDWT (What can you do with this): Rolling boxcars

DYBT?*

You can win one million dollars if a celebrity rolls a pair of sixes on the Tonight... (Woops sorry) the Jay Leno Show. See daily dice roll clip.

What are YOUR chances of winning? 1/36? Read the fine print to find out... if you can stand it.

http://playatMcD.com

Use the Menu to avoid all the animation. Check out the "helpful" registration process video.

*Do you believe this?

What would you do with this sign?

I've tried it with many 6th grade classes. Have gotten some interesting results.

See my comments about it.

Measuring Circles: Good idea, bad pedagogy?

From the WCYDWT files:
Watch this video and tell me: Would you show this to kids as is? Anything missing here? If so, is the missing thing necessary?

To see video click here.
(2:42 min)

What's Wrong with this Picture?

Hint: It appeared as an ad in the program book for the NCTM conference where the theme was EQUITY. Hello? Anybody home?

Activities website for the New DMC workshop is up.

Here it is. Link. See you in Philly.
-Ihor

The NEW Dynamic Classroom. What happened to the old one?

It's still good... just a bit dated. Here are a couple of articles that will help you to get ready for my workshop this Thursday.

A Look at Technology's Role in Professional Development of Mathematics Teachers at the Middle School Level” (School Science & Mathematics November, 2000)
Link: http://mathforum.org/clime/ssm.html

The Dynamic Classroom: What is it?
Link: http://web.mac.com/ihor12/home/Articles/dmc.pdf

Workshop Activity page link - later today.

Description of my session:

The New Dynamic Classroom: Teaching & Learning Math with Technology and Web 2.0 (Ihor Charischak)
Come and experience a series of unique & compelling activities that incorporate significant software environments (Spreadsheets, MicroWorlds, and Sketchpad) that will help a teacher to engage their students in gaining a deeper understanding of powerful mathematical ideas. For more information see http://DMCpress.org

-Ihor

The Average Traveler Activity

At the AMTNJ Conference last Thursday I did the average traveler activity with the 26 math educators who attended my session "Back to the Future: Teaching & Learning Math with Technology (3.0)"
Based on the distances that each attendee traveled to get to this conference, I asked who in this room would represent the average distance traveled? Guesses ranged from 20 to 50 miles. Since we didn’t have access to computers to do this in real time, I used the distance from each attendee’s school (or administrative office) to the Holiday Inn in Somerset, NJ (where this session took place) to figure this out. I added placemarks at each school's location using Google Maps and used the distances provided by the software. Which school’s placemark do you think is closest to the average distance that the participants traveled to this conference? The yellow marker is the site of the conference.

I used Geometer’s Sketchpad to draw a circle with the location of the session at the center and the radius of the circle gives an estimate of the distance to the various schools represented. By changing the radius of the circle I could approximate what the average was. The radius of the circle in the image is 49 miles. Note there are several schools that are candidates for being closest to the average distance. Take a look at Google Maps and identify your location. The sites are open for you to make corrections and updates.
Here is a Google spreadsheet of the relevant data.

Check out the links provided and see if all this makes sense to you. Let me know by sending me a comment below.

Oh, I almost forgot. The Average travelers were from Wayne Valley High School. The average distance was 46.42 miles and Google Maps reported that Wayne was 46.6 miles away. It was almost a bull's eye. I owe you a prize!

original posting: 11/30/08

Please send your comment or question about this activity (2/13/12)