This carnival is all about the world around you and the math we encounter every day.
It’s time to discover, explore and investigate our world. Come and have fun with us! Be prepared to find a rabbit trail or two, so don’t forget to bookmark this page, then you can come back and explore more.
Playful Math Education Carnival is a monthly collection of mathy fun: tips, tidbits, games, activities and more, founded by Denise Gaskins. You can find previous Carnivals on the Let’s Play Math web site.
Traditionally, the Math Carnival starts with some mathy facts related to the carnival’s number, that is 156. Let’s discover where we will encounter 156 in our world.
156 is the atomic number of an element temporarily called Unpenthexium.
The eastern maritime boundary of the Cook Islands is defined by the coordinates 8°0’S 156°0’W
Starting at the North Pole, if you follow the 156th Meridian east of Greenwich, you pass through the Arctic Ocean, Asia and the Sea of Okhotsk. You will travel through the Pacific Ocean, reaching Ovau Island – Solomon Islands (6°47’S 156°0E) and pass just west of Fauro Island – Solomon Island (6°58’S 156°1E), Traveling through Southern Ocean before ending up in Antarctica, at the South Pole.
If you listen to a clock striking, you will hear 156 hourly gongs.
Table of Contents
Mathy Fun
156 is the number that represents adding 100 + 50 +6
Factors of 156: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12, 13, 26, 39, 52, 78, and 156.
If you add the first two digit of our number, you get the third 1+5 = 6
156 is the 6th Dodecagonal number (1, 12, 33, 64, 105, 156)
Go HERE for the New Scientist Puzzle #156
Or if you like to do jigsaw puzzles THIS 3D one of Big Ben has 156 pieces!
Before we go on a math adventure around the world why not first travel back to these carnivals? Carnival 100, Carnival 50 and Carnival 6
Tips From Math Educators Around the World
From INDIA we marvel at Vedic Math with Gaurav Tekriwal
If you would like to learn more about Vedic Math, these books by Nava Vision are a great way to learn the process and the history behind the discipline.
From JAPAN we listen to Kazuyuki Takayanagi explain why the abacus is central to better cognitive memory.
Elisa Guerra, from MEXICO interviews Maarit Rossi, from FINLAND, about teaching math.
This post by Kids In the House compares how mathematics is taught in the USA, China, Japan and Finland.
And from AUSTRALIA listen to this from Eddie Woo!
And WooTube is where you can find all his videos for math learning.
Tidbits – Math Quotes from Around the World
Quotes are a great inclusion for your math journals. Here are some from international mathematicians.
It is impossible to be a mathematician without being a poet in soul.
— Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian mathematician
Mathematics has beauty and romance. It’s not a boring place to be, the mathematical world. It’s an extraordinary place; it’s worth spending time there.
— Marcus du Sautoy, British mathematician
Without mathematics, there’s nothing you can do. Everything around you is mathematics. Everything around you is numbers.
— Shakuntala Devi, Indian writer
The only way to learn mathematics is to do mathematics.
— Paul R. Halmos, Hungarian-American mathematician
Mathematics is the music of reason.
— James Joseph Sylvester, English mathematician
Games
Come around the world and discover some great games that you might not have tried before!
This post by What Do We Do All Day? has a huge amount of games, from so many different countries, you are bound to find a new favourite.
An older but relevant series of posts at NRICH maths on why learning mathematics through games works. There are helpful tips on what make a game mathematical and how to implement them. And they also have a page with more math games from around the world.
Listen to this podcast ‘Math Games Galore’ with Kent Haines and Dan Finkel
Activities
This activity by Mr.Nussbaum Around the World worksheet includes multiplication and finding countries.
Map making is a great way to explore the world around us and sharpen math skills. National Geographic has some great mapping ideas on there page ‘Map Skills for Elementary Students.’
Denise’s new book ‘312 Things To Do with a Math Journal‘ is a great introduction to the how and why of math journaling. Also, try these sites:
Edutopia has an article on how math journals help students process their thinking.
K<5 has some lovely example of student work and an explanation of Math Journals.
Gemma Meharg gives us 4 reasons why students should be math journaling at Maths No Problem
And MORE, some Recent Math Blog Posts from Around the WEB
Recent Mathy Blog posts, in no particular order:
- From Teaching With a Mountain View – Activities for Teaching Mean, Median and Mode.
- From M+A+T+H=Love – Finding Common Denominators of Rational Expressions Activity.
- From Asia Society – Understanding the World Through Math.
- From Math Geek Mama – Ratio Practice: Real Life Math for 6th Grade.
- From Math in the Media – April 2022 Digest
- From The Mathematics Centre – 10 Most Recent Additions.
- From Henri’s Math Education Blog – No Best Way.
- From I Speak Math – Using Delta Math to See 3D Volume.
- From Math Mama Writes – Logic Puzzle, Supposedly From Einstein
Books
Try some of these books to learn more about the amazing math in the world around us!
The next Playful Math Carnival will be hosted by Math Mama Writes, don’t forget to take a look. And if you would like to host a Playful Math Carnival you can contact Denise here, she loves to have new hosts!
