April is Math Awareness Month

Math- April is Math Awareness Month

The last time I taught a math class, the film “Donald Duck in Mathemagic Land” was still quite popular. Produced in 1959, this Oscar nominated 27 minute film was probably of the best education films to come out of the Disney organization. It was supposed to be the best way to get young students interested in mathematics. The federal government was in a quandary after falling behind to the Soviets in the space race. The National Defense Education Act was enacted in an effort to get America students to catch up in the areas of math and science.

Here we are fifty years later and America school students are still behind in mathematics.

Think about it. Math is a required subject in almost every grade level. Math is always a tested subject on state assessment programs and is a high school graduation requirement. Math is an integral part of both the SAT and ACT exams. Math problems can also be found in placement test for the military.

Computers provided a major paradigm shift in how students approach math problems and opened up new avenues for teachers to teach new math skills as well as to reinforce previously learned skills.

I would like to share with some web sites that might be useful as classroom aids and in getting your students to like math.

Aplusmath.com offers a variety of helpful tools. Student can make their own flashcards and print out worksheets for all major mathematic principles. There is also a Homework Helper tool and as assortment of mathematic puzzles. ( www.aplusmath.com)

Another useful site is mathgoodies.com. This site provides interactive math instruction. mathgoodies.blogspot.com