Math Activities

Even at the high school level students enjoy hands-on activities and the inclusion of variety within lessons. This is what keeps them engaged, interested in being in class, and willing to participate in class.

I stumbled upon a Pinterest Board called "Math Ideas - High School" which I sat and looked through for quite some time. Within this board, I came across a website full of activities and ideas to include in a math class, that would work for any level of difficulty or any grade level if manipulated appropriately. Some activities come across as primary, but they can almost all be altered to be fitting of any grade level (including Grade 12).

One activity in particular that I liked was the Story Sticks. I have seen story sticks before, in contexts similar to that shown on the Story Sticks website, but never in a math context. Story sticks are most commonly used in primary level course to give the student four words/ideas/problems/etc. to give them a starting point for a story. An extension of this was given on the website of activities to include these sticks in a math class by having the student come up with a word problem rather than a story. I think this is a great idea to have students think about creating word problems and creating a scenario to fit a specific concept rather than always be solving them. This is a great way to prepare students for exam preparation, as they can each choose different sticks and present their word problems to the class and a review package could be made of all the different word problems in order to study for the exam.

 

One idea that I liked was the generation of a QR code to provide students/parents with your contact information. As well as teacher information, you can create QR codes that take students to websites with extra practice, extra information, homework details, course details, contact information, etc. The possibilities are endless, but the technology is what is new and exciting - so this is what interests students in comparison to writing their homework on the board, or providing them with a course outline that they are likely to misplace. There are many sites available for generating QR codes, and majority of them are absolutely FREE.

 

If you have any other activities or ideas that can be altered to fit a high school math class - please share in the comments below!