Online Mathematics Tools
Online Mathematics Tools
Whether you are teaching virtually or in person, these digital math tools may come in handy. Digital tools can help students visualize math concepts and encourage mathematical discussion.
Desmos is a both a free online graphing calculator (https://www.desmos.com/) and classroom Activity Builder (https://teacher.desmos.com/)
Using Desmos Activities in your classroom
Learn Desmos - This website contains a variety of resources to help you learn more about the Desmos graphing calculator and getting started with Desmos Classroom Activities. Also included are suggestions for using Desmos for distance learning.
EECD Summer Learning Session Teaching Math with Desmos Activities - Some tips for using Desmos activities both synchronously (live and virtual) as well as asynchronously. There is an accompanying Google document with notes and resources.
Using Desmos Teacher Dashboard Snapshots, Pace, and Pause video - How to effectively use the Snapshots, Pace and Pause features during an online synchronous Desmos session with students.
Introducing Students to Desmos - Here is the link to a Desmos activity introduction for grade 10-12 students who are new to Desmos. Lesson 0.1 is another introduction to Desmos activities aimed towards grade 7-9 students.
Check out this list of Nova Scotia Math Desmos Collections for courses in grades 7 through 12.
Creating your own Desmos Activities
Learn about creating your own Desmos Activities:
Starter Screens in Desmos: Activity Building 101 - An hour long video describing the basics
Desmos DIY: Building Your Own Activities - A one hour video webinar
Desmos Design Principles - The Desmos Guide to Building Great (Digital) Math Activities
You can build and edit activities with your colleagues! To add collaborators, find the dropdown menu in your activity and select Collaborate. Note that only one person can edit at a time.
Adding Computation Layer (CL) to your Desmos Activities
Computation Layer allows you to add additional functionality and interactivity to your Desmos activities.
Intro to Computation Layer webinar from Jay Chow.
Quizizz is an online formative assessment tool. The Quizizz math editor lets you add mathematical equations into questions with ease.
The Quizizz Guide to Distance Learning - A list of tips for getting the most out of Quizizz.
Getting Started with Quizizz - A video describing the basics of creating and starting a Quizizz.
How to Use Quizizz for Remote Learning and Teaching - A short video on how to use Quizizz in your classroom and share it through Google Classroom for remote learning and teaching.
A few example Quizizz
Grade 8 Fraction Operations Quizizz
Grade 9 Exponents Quizizz
Precal 11 Sequences and Series Quizizz
EquatIO allows teachers to quickly and easily format mathematics in Google docs, slides and forms.
Install the EquatIO Chrome extension by going to the Google Chrome web store and installing the free extension. This will give you immediate access to the free version of EquatIO. Once the extension has been installed you will see the blue EquatIO icon in the upper right hand corner of your Chrome browser. Once installed, teachers can request the premium version of EquatIO for free (use your @gnspes.ca account in your request).
Getting Started with EquatIO - This site will step you through installing the EquatIO Chrome extension. You can follow this up with tutorials from the EquatIO YouTube tutorials playlist.
EECD Summer Learning Session Using EquatIO in Gsuite for Mathematics from Peter Day - Peter describes using EquatIO in Mathematics classes.
EquatIO Features Overview - This fifteen minute video will step you through the basics of EquatIO.
Using EquatIO with Google Forms for Formative Assessments video
Polypad is a set of virtual manipulatives found at the Mathigon.org website. Students can use virtual Polypad manipulatives to solve problems or teachers can create and share a Polypad canvas with a specific set of questions and manipulatives.
Polypad PD – Middle School Workshop video from David Poras
Polypad - Fraction & Decimal Relationships video from Tina Friesen
Self-checking activities can be used to give students immediate feedback on how they are doing. Many of these activities can be used either virtually or in person.
EECD Summer Learning Session Creating Digital Self-Checking Activities for the Math Classroom from Souad El-Achkar and Erika Swinemer - Souad and Erika describe self-checking activities and show/share several examples that could be used in mathematics.
Tarsia Puzzles - Tarsia puzzles are jigsaw puzzles that students cut out and assemble by joining sides with corresponding questions and answers. Tarsia puzzles can be created on a Windows computer using the Tarsia Formulator program (a free download).
Craig Barton has a web page where he has shared tips and examples of Tarsia puzzles that he has created.