Just wanted to let you know of a broken link with the Pixel pattern 3 ACT task.

The link to view the dimensions of the bounding box is currently set to:
http://threeacts.mrmeyer.com/pixelpattern/act2/boundingboxdimension.jpg

When I found it broken, I had a strange hunch and added an “s” onto dimension and voilà! Persistence pays.

http://threeacts.mrmeyer.com/pixelpattern/act2/boundingboxdimensions.jpg

Funny thing is the same publishers who push computer based thins and that also publish authors whose books say the key to reaching students is making a connection. Wow what a concept

We start at a disadvantage in math. Kids start off afraid of, intimidated by or significantly behind where they should be in order to succeed in Algebra and beyond.

Still I like graphing calculators and the promise of what computers could possibly do for us and our students. (And I’m old enough to remember learning logs, trig and square roots without a calculator).

I just wish I could go 1 parent teacher conference without a parent excusing their child’s math laziness, insecurity and deficiencies by saying ” I wasn’t any good in math either”. To which I usually ask how good they (the parent) was at text messaging back when they were young….

Scott Hlls
Michigan

See you tomorrow at the Macomb ISD, Dan

(Rule 110 is fun.)

I’ve attached context to these growing patterns (number of people seated around tables, etc.) which kids quickly ignore b/c the math itself— determining an expression— is what engages them.

Here again Dan reminds me I too often skip past asking “What’s your guess?”

PS – If I can speak for Dan, he meant pile patterns. I first came across this term in Jo Boaler’s excellent What’s Math Got to Do with it?

pps. Did you mean “tiles” when you said “piles” or are these actually called pile patterns sometimes?

It starts off with telling a story about the pet worm I used to have, his name was Blinky (or something) and isn’t he cute? Here’s what he looked like at age one (show three-tiles) and here he is at age two (show five tiles) and age three (seven tiles). Isn’t he adorable?

Then, okay kids, make your own tile creatures – first make one up for age 1, then show how they grow for the next two years.

Then extend to “okay so how big would it be at age 7?” … show how to make a table, then “okay but will I have room for this thing when it’s age 50??!??!” to motivate finding an equation. (Some kids won’t have made a linear pattern; lets you discuss what the difference is, although then those kids aren’t sure what to do for the equation, so I’m not sure how much I like that aspect of it.)

The original was pitched to me using pattern blocks, which I wish I could’ve actually tried, but both times I’ve used this they weren’t available so I swapped in graph paper and filling in grid blocks / hexes. (Worked okay, having the blocks would’ve been almost guaranteed better though.)