Fun Math Trick Video: I Can Guess Your Phone Number

Here's a fun math trick video that your students might enjoy.  It's a trick where the calculations will result in your phone number, excluding the area code.  Students may find it interesting that you have to enter your entire phone number as part of the trick, but a series of calculations are performed with the digits.
 

I'm sharing this just as a fun thing to use with students.  It would be perfect for a time when students need a short "brain break".  You'll probably have at least one or two students who are interested in trying to figure out how the trick works.

 

Viewing Tip:  You can use SafeShare.TV to safely share YouTube videos with students.  SafeShare.TV takes all of the ads and comments off the videos.  I've already uploaded this video.  You can view it in SafeShare.TV by following this link.

Looking Beyond the Obvious to Deepen Understanding

Earlier today, I posted about kids teaching kids with the Mathtrain.TV site.  The obvious use for this site is to have students use the video tutorials as models for solving similar problems.  Unfortunately if this is the only way these videos are used, it's likely that only surface, rote learning is taking place.  The same is true about most of the math resources that are readily available.  It's up to us as math educators to look beyond the obvious, intended uses for these resources in order to ensure that deep, long lasting learning is taking place.  So that go me thinking about how the Mathtrain.TV videos could be used more effectively with students. 

Below are some ideas for using these videos in less obvious ways that can actually deepen student understanding of the math concepts/skills:

• have students describe what they like most about the video and what they learned from watching the video...Did  watching the video change how they will work similar problems in the future?  If so, how?

• have students describe how the video explanation could be improved...Would visuals be helpful?  Should number sense be involved in solving the problem?

• have students explain how to estimate the answer to the problem...Would it have made more sense to estimate rather than solve for an exact answer?  Why or why not?  How would estimating the answer be helpful?

• have students explain how the problem could be solved using a different method

• have students draw visuals that illustrate the problem being solved in the video

•  have students debate whether or not this is the most efficient way (fastest and easiest) to solve the problem..then have them write a letter to the student who made the video explaining why this is or is not the most efficient method for solving the problem

• have students view two videos that use different methods for solving the same type of problem, then have them compare and contrast the videos including which method they would choose (if either) and which method is most efficient for solving similar problem

Leave a comment and share your "beyond the obvious" ideas for using the Mathtrain.TV videos or other similar math resources.

Kids Teaching Kids with Mathtrain.TV

I've recently discovered Mathtrain.TV. It's a website full of videos that kids have created to teach math skills/concepts to other kids.  Several years ago middle school teacher, Eric Marcos, started this site after some of his students asked if they could make videos to help their peers.  The video below tells the story of how this site developed naturally following the request for help from one of his students.



After reviewing several videos on the site, I've been impressed by the level confidence and understanding that some of the kids demonstrate.  I feel very strongly that students need to understand the math they're learning rather than just being able to perform steps that lead to a "correct answer".  One of the things I like most about this site is that some of the students really do demonstrate number sense and understanding in their videos. The problems I've viewed have all been rote and skill-based, but the way some of the students explain their thinking makes them worthwhile for helping students learn skills.

Check out this video by papatom on finding percents.  In this video, Papatom (the students use fake names) does a nice job of solving the problem using number sense.  His explanation is also very easy to follow.

In addition to having hundreds of videos ready for viewing on the site, you and your students can also create and upload your own videos.  You can view any of the videos without signing up, but uploading videos requires that you register for the site.  

I hope that you and your students will check out Mathtrain.TV and get some inspiration!

Leave a comment telling us what you think about Mathtrain.TV.