Posts on “ math ”

What makes two figures congruent? Find out in BrainPOP Jr.’s new math movie, Congruent and Similar Shapes. In the newest addition to BrainPOP Jr.’s Geometry unit,  Annie and Moby explore geometry and learn about the properties of different shapes. They also guide students in comparing and contrasting the shapes and sizes of multiple figures. The movie’s visual explanation of congruent and similar shapes is a great support to reinforce  your students’ understanding of geometry concepts.

This spring, we told you about a national math challenge for middle schoolers run by The MIT Education Arcade and supported by BrainPOP. Between April 1st and June 15th, nearly 1,000 teachers and other adult mentors enrolled more than 30,000 students in the Labyrinth Challenge, centered on the educational game Lure of the Labyrinth. Over the course of the 10 weeks, students collectively spent half a trillion minutes (that’s more than 950 years!) collaborating on the solving of mathematical puzzles to save pets from the “Tasti-Pet Factory.” In addition to gaining problem-solving confidence and bragging rights, students earned chances to win some amazing prizes. Those who worked together with their teammates to reach certain levels in the game were entered into a drawing for a complimentary home subscription to BrainPOP, animation software from FableVision, and Lenovo ThinkPad Tablets. Teachers also had chances to win by completing pre- and post-Challenge surveys. In total, 20 teachers and nearly 100 students were awarded prizes for their participation. “Our partnerships with BrainPOP and Lenovo were critical to recruiting so many players to participate in the Labyrinth Challenge,” said Carole Urbano, Outreach Director for The MIT Education Arcade. “Offering prizes provided that extra incentive to… Read the Rest»

GameUp continues to grow and we’ve just added another new game!  Budget Hero, developed by the Woodrow Wilson Center, American Public Media and 360KID, is now available in the math section of GameUp and is an online game in which players try their best to balance the federal budget.  Throughout the game, players make policy changes that affect the budget deficit/surplus, the size of government as a percentage of GDP, the national debt as a percentage of GDP, and the projected year in which the budget “busts.”  While experimenting with budget cuts and government investments, students can identify budget priorities that they find interesting such as green initiatives, health and wellness, energy efficiency, and more. Perfect for middle school and highschool Math or Social Studies classes, our Budgets, Comparing Prices, and Money movies can help students understand the necessary concepts for successfully playing Budget Hero.  We’ve also created a lesson plan for teachers to use when integrating the use of the game into their curriculum.  Not only does our lesson plan include tips and tricks for playing the game, but we’ve included an additional resource students can use to guide them through gameplay.  So, do you think your students have… Read the Rest»

We’re spotlighting Sports & Fitness and Practical Math this month, so be sure to check out the collection of movies and other resources featured throughout all of May.   The arrival of warmer weather moves kids outdoors, so why not cover some topics they can take outside with them?  Our Soccer, Football, and Fitness movies can get kids up and moving while our Bicycle Safety movie is a perfect refresher for students before they hit the road.  With Baseball season in full swing, our Jackie Robinson movie is a valuable resource for teaching about the history of the sport.  Students often ask, “Why do we need to learn this?”  Answer their question with the featured topics and resources in the Practical Math spotlight.  From Comparing Prices to Estimating, we’ve included math concepts that students can apply to everyday life outside of the classroom.  

If you joined us for either of our recent Play Seriously: The MIT Education Arcade webinars, you already know a bit about The Labyrinth Challenge.  For those of you who may have missed the webinars or need a little refresher, we want to take a moment to share the details of this exciting opportunity. It’s a national math challenge for middle school students, centering on the educational game Lure of the Labyrinth. Teachers, coaches, and youth leaders, enroll teams of your students for free through June 15th.   You know that it’s not always easy to engage middle schoolers. But couching key lessons in game play is a great way to reach them: advancing from one level to another in “Lure of the Labyrinth” requires students to apply their understanding of various mathematical concepts. Plus, the game meets Common Core standards and allows teachers to assess student understanding through the game’s built-in assessment tools. With data and reports that are automatically generated through game play, teachers can document student progress and guide math instruction in the classroom.   Head on over to our very own GameUp for a sampling of some Lure of the Labyrinth puzzles.  Students and educators who… Read the Rest»

Wednesday, March 28 4:30PM ET: Play Seriously: The MIT Education Arcade Digital games in class? You bet! Scot Osterweil, Creative Director of the MIT Education Arcade, hosts this webinar on the role of gaming in classroom instruction. Discover how you can use our newest math games – a Lure of the Labyrinth trio – to enhance your lessons and excite students.

Check out our timely collection of topics, interactive resource, and lesson plans to use during the Month of May and beyond! Spotlight: Practical Math You can count on us! This month marks the debut of a brand-new Spotlight dedicated to Practical Math. Explore topics like Comparing Prices, Customary Units, Division, Estimating, Graphs, Interest, Metric Units, Percents, Scale Drawing, Rounding, and Statistics. For K-3, there’s Centimeters, Meters & Kilometers, Inches & Feet, Basic Subtraction, Basic Addition, and Dollars & Cents. Spotlight: Sports and Fitness With summer fast approaching, there’s no better time for our Spotlight: Sports and Fitness. Build awareness of healthy habits with topics like Baseball, Body Weight, Obesity, Fitness, Football, Jackie Robinson, and Olympics. On BrainPOP Jr., you’ll find resources tackling Exercise, Bones, and Lungs. Plus, be fashionable and fit – print out a “Get Pumped With Moby” t-shirt iron-on. How do you reinforce healthy habits with your students? Post ideas and resources below.

Congratulations to head teacher, Colter Barnes, and his Kokhanok middle school class for their amazing accomplishment as top 5 finalists in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest.  Colter shares their journey from a BrainPOP social studies lesson all the way to the Big Apple! One day, in the remote fly-in only “bush” village of Kokhanok, Alaska, while my middle school class (made up of 6 diverse Alaska Native students of Yupik Eskimo, Athapascan Indian, and Aleut descent) were logging in to BrainPOP to work on social studies, they noticed a news feature and exclaimed, “Samsung is giving away $1,000,000 to schools!”  Instantly, their focus had been diverted and they wanted to explore this exciting opportunity.  After further research they learned it was an educational contest that would award students who could best demonstrate an answer to the question, “How can math and science help the environment in your community?” Being from a village of 160 people, where roughly 80% of its inhabitants don’t have internet access, my students were both eager and nervous.  Do we have what it takes to compete with kids from California, Texas, and New York City?  How cool would it be if we won and received… Read the Rest»

Toni Sexton is a Math Teacher in New York City. You can check out her fabulous lesson plan on Pi Day here! Gauging a student’s true comprehension of a concept can be difficult, especially in math! Students can go through the motions and memorize the steps without understanding why they are performing them. For this reason, applying language arts methods into a math lesson will actually enhance their comprehension of mathematical concepts as well as further their reading and writing skills (not to mention your administration will applaud your application of cross-curricular activities). Listed below are five tips that are easily applied to any routine; however, there are a few guidelines to keep in mind in order to maximize effectiveness: Accept only complete sentences-the same standards that apply to an English course Push vocabulary-this is a great chance to get students to use proper terminology Here are five tips to integrate LA into math in order to assess a student’s grasp on content: 1. Instead of working out multiple problems, have them write a paragraph explaining how to solve a problem. 2. For lengthier problems, have them describe each part (as if it were a proof) out to the side… Read the Rest»

With President Obama’s launch of the National STEM Video Game Challenge comes a BrainPOP announcement as well! We’re proud to report that BrainPOP will serve as an official founding outreach partner of the Challenge, designed to build and strengthen interest in STEM skills (science, technology, engineering, math). The Challenge is a two-pronged contest administered by Sesame Workshop’s Joan Ganz Cooney Center and E-Line Media. Its youth portion invites middle school students – particularly those in underserved areas – to harness their STEM skills and create original video games.  Our loyal fans know how important STEM subjects have always been at BrainPOP and how much focus we give them throughout our resources.  We look forward to encouraging student submissions, and to supporting middle school entrants and their mentors with things like free access to best-in-class science, technology, engineering, and math digital content, professional development, and more. Plus, we’ll contribute to contest prizes to ensure winners and their schools are positioned for further success in STEM areas. Find out more and stay tuned right here.