Lesson Plans
Math Circle Problem Collection Home | Math Circle Problem Sets | Math Circle Problem List | Math Circle Lesson Plans
| Lesson Plan | Description | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Algorithms & Flowcharts | Introduction to algorithms and flowcharts, adaptable to many levels. | wmueller |
| Balloon Numbers | This lesson is one of the activities that has been used in Julia Robinson Mathematics Festivals. At most of these festivals there are many pages listi... | auckly |
| Base 2, Division, Paper Folding, and Convergence | This lesson has a nice collection of problems. Highlights include a paper folding algorithm to fold a strip of paper into perfect thirds, and the divi... | auckly |
| Basics of Mental Math | The focus of this lesson is to show mental math tricks to students. The worksheet groups the problems according to the tricks taught in the powerpoint... | AlexZ |
| Big Numbers | This lesson describes some of the largest finite numbers that have ever been written down. It is likely that anyone reading it will see a number large... | auckly |
| Bin Packing | This Tom Davis lesson considers several problems related to bin packing. It starts with the question of filling a grid polytope with dominoes, moves t... | auckly |
| Binary Trick | In this trick, someone is asked to pick an integer from 1 to 31 and identify which of five cards contains the number. The person running the trick can... | auckly |
| Braids | This lesson describes a mathematical theory for three strand braids with the ends at the top joined to a rod and the ends at the bottom joined to a se... | auckly |
| Building Blocks | This lesson is one of the activities that has been used in Julia Robinson Mathematics Festivals. At most of these festivals there are many pages listi... | auckly |
| Bulgarian Solitaire | Starting with 15 coins. Move the coins into any amount of piles of any size. Now, each move consists of taking one coin from each pile and creating a ... | brandy |
| Card Tricks | This lesson introduces several mathematically based card tricks. It is due to Tom Davis. http://www.geometer.org/mathcircles/ | auckly |
| Catalan numbers | This Tom Davis lesson explores appearances of the Catalan numbers in combinatorics. http://www.geometer.org/mathcircles/ | auckly |
| Circle of Differences | Place numbers at the vertices of a regular polygon. A square makes a good beginning. Then at the midpoint of each side, place the difference of the ... | auckly |
| Circles and Angles | This short lesson gives four basic facts relating circles and angles. It leads into other Tom Davis lessons. http://www.geometer.org/mathcircles | auckly |
| Clip Theory | What is the next term of the sequence $1, 2, 4, 8, 16, \cdots$? In this activity the next number is not $32$! This lesson touches on Euler's formula, ... | auckly |
| Coins in Twoland | In Twoland the coins have value 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and so on. The most interesting town there is Twoville, where the law requires you to pay with exact ... | auckly |
| Coloring | This is a collection of tiling problems that may be solved via coloring. It is due to Tom Davis. http://www.geometer.org/mathcircles/ | auckly |
| Combinations and Permutations | This is a description of combinations and permutations and counting techniques. By itself it is not a self contained math circle lesson. These notes a... | auckly |
| Combinatorics problems by Tom Davis | This is a collection of combinatorics problems submitted by Tom Davis. http://www.geometer.org/mathcircles/ General discussion may be found at [... | auckly |
| Construction problems | This is a short collection of straight edge and compass construction problems by Tom Davis. http://www.geometer.org/mathcircles/ It goes along w... | auckly |
| Contest Geometry | This hand out lists many results from geometry that are useful for math contests. It is from Tom Davis. http://www.geometer.org/mathcircles | auckly |
| Conway's Rational Tangles | John Conway introduced the notion of a rational tangle in a foundational paper on knot theory. He also devised a wickedly cool dance to explain them. ... | auckly |
| Conway's Rational Tangles | John Conway introduced the notion of a rational tangle in a foundational paper on knot theory. He also devised a wickedly cool dance to explain them. ... | auckly |
| Counting | This is a set of notes and problems related to combinatorics. It is due to Tom Davis http://www.geometer.org/mathcircles/ Compare with [[Comb... | auckly |
| Counting Shapes | The focus of this lesson is to teach students how to find patterns and count shapes. However, this lesson will also teach them the importance of organ... | AlexZ |
| Cryptography | This is a set of notes on Cryptography by Tom Davis. http://www.geometer.org/mathcircles/ Compare with [[Huffman Encoding]]. | auckly |
| Cube Slicing | This lesson asks participants to classify possible plane sections of cubes. Once the participants think about it a bit, they can experiment with plast... | auckly |
| Dice, airplane, sequences, and a card game (start w/ computer explorations). | Several challenging discrete math problems that invited computer explorations to generate insight, make conjectures, and suggest proof strategies. ... | kawski |
| Die Game | This game came from a Renaissance fair via Phil Yasskin. The die game is played as follows: A goal number is chosen (usually 31). The first player ... | auckly |
| Dots and Dashes | This lesson explores cool patterns that arise when one considers the frequency sequence of a given sequence. It is a sample from James Tanton, M... | auckly |
| Dynamics of Holes in Knots and Mobius Strips. | Starter Activity: Hand-cuff Knot http://mathssquad.questacon.edu.au/the_handcuffs_puzzle.html Watch our instructors doing the activity: http://www... | brandy |
| Easy problems for beginning elementary school students | Warm-Up Mr. and Mrs. Boo have three daughters. Each of them have two brothers. How many children are in the family? Ancient numbers 2500 ... | jbrodsky |
| Explaining Fractions and Decimals Visually | The focus of this lesson is to explain fractions and decimals to students that either have only just learned about fractions and decimals or have no e... | AlexZ |
| Folding and Pouring | This lesson starts with a mixing problem, moves to a paper folding question that is the same problem in disguise and relates both to the analogue of d... | auckly |
| Folding Patterns and Dragons | This lesson investigates the interesting patterns that result from repeatedly folding a strip of paper in half. It is a sample from James Tanton... | auckly |
| Four Points on a Circle | This Tom Davis lesson presents several deep results from plane geometry related to circles. These include the Nine Point Circle,Ptolemy’s Theorem, M... | auckly |
| Fractions | What is a fraction, anyway? Why do the rules you learned in school actually work? The attachment is a handout, followed by teacher notes, followed... | joshuazucker |
| Game of Nim | This math circle lesson intends to develop, through the use of selected examples and questions, some key insights into the game of Nim necessary for... | auckly |
| GCD, LCM, Euclidean Algorithm | gmeda | |
| Homogeneous Coordinates and Computer Graphics | This Tom Davis lesson describes the mathematics related ot computer graphics, and uses this as an introduction to homogeneous coordinates and projecti... | auckly |
| How to Lead a Math Circle (Tom Davis) | This just gives one perspective on running a math circle by Tom Davis http://www.geometer.org/mathcircles/ Math circles are for high school o... | auckly |
| Huffman Encoding | This is a set of notes describing Huffman Encoding. The notes describe some very nice theory, but there are not many explicit problems or activities f... | auckly |
| Inequalities | The purpose of this lesson is to help students understand better how to solve various inequalities. The lesson starts with some relatively easy exampl... | grandim |
| Intersection Math | This lesson explores an interesting "multiplication" operation. It is a sample from J. Tanton, Mathematical Outpourings: Newsletters and Musings... | auckly |
| Introduction to Mathematical Biology | This lesson presents a pair of math circle activities related to biology. The first considers a rabbit population. The second is a game that models a ... | auckly |
| KenKen | KenKen is a puzzle whose solution requires a combination of logic and simple arithmetic and combinatorial skills. The puzzles range in difficulty fr... | hbreiter |
| Math Dance | Karl Schaffer and Erik Stern have developed many innovative ways to connect mathematics and dance. His website lists many activities that could be ... | auckly |
| Math Introduction | (Photo included below) This is a mathematical way to introduce a group of around 20 people, but this ice-breaker can be modified to work with diffe... | uptime |
| Mathematical Origami: PHiZZ Dodecahedron | In this session we will learn how to make a dodecahedron using Tom Hull's PHiZZ modular origami units.
We begin with a discussion of the Plato... |
auckly |
| Modular Arithmetic | gmeda | |
| Multipication Graphs | A multiplication graph is formed by choosing a positive integer n, numbering a collection of n-1 points from 1 to n-1, then drawing an edge between an... | auckly |
| Number Bracelets | Choose two numbers in f0; 1; : : : ; 9g to begin a sequence of dig- its. The next digit in the sequence is the units digit of the sum of the two pre... | auckly |
| Numerical Puzzles | The lesson is devoted to an exciting topic -- numerical puzzles. Problems of this type are a valuable resource since they possess both an entertaining... | ania_burago |
| On Reflection | This lesson investigates the dynamics of billiards in certain lattice rectangles. This is a sample from James Tanton, Mathematical Outpourings:... | auckly |
| Parity for 4th and 5th graders | This lesson plan starts with odd and even number addition and then moves to knights on a chess board and or gears in order to have the kids figure out... | auckly |
| Peering Through Tubes | This activity addresses the question: how much can we see through a tube? Students take measurements and gather data and then search for patterns in ... | M Fenn |
| Pile Splitting | This is a lesson plan by James Tanton based on the Pile Splitting activity. It will be presented at the 2011 Circle on the Road workshop. DESCRIPTION... | auckly |
| Platonic Solids | In this lesson we explore why there are only five platonic solids. This lesson was adapted from a session at the Houston Circle on the Road. In thi... | judith.covington@lsus.edu |
| Playing with Parity | In the Playing with Parity Circle, students learn about parity through playing games and learning magic tricks. The Circle is an opportunity for stude... | auckly |
| Popcorn Prank | What would it take to ll this room with popcorn? How many people in the world are talking on their cell phones at this instant? If everyone in the co... | auckly |
| Recursive Functions and Computability | This is a description of the theory of computation. By itself it is not a self contained math circle lesson. These notes are by Tom Davis http://ww... | auckly |
| Regular polygons | Presenting one idea together with a collection of problems based on that idea is the comfort food of math circle lesson plans. This Razvan Gelca less... | auckly |
| Special Session at Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art | This lesson of Math Circle Seminar at Kansas State University is a special session co-organized with Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art. The group... | Natasha |
| Straightedge and Compass constructions | This is a set of notes on geometric constructions by Tom Davis. http://www.geometer.org/mathcircles/ The [[Construction problems]] can be used a... | auckly |
| Tessellations via Tanton | This lesson investigates tessellations of the plane, including aperiodic ones. This is a sample from James Tanton, Mathematical Outpourings: New... | auckly |
| The Handshake Problem | This is a classic problem and is a lot of fun for this age group (and older children, who could move through it at a faster pace). The basic proble... | Melrose_Math_Circle |
| The Math Salute | The math salute is a physical challenge that demonstrates the "work backwards" problem solving strategy. It is a very short lesson. Just show your aud... | auckly |
| The Stern Brocot Tree | This lesson examines a remarkable enumeration of the rational numbers that is related to Euclid's algorithm and continued fractions. It is a sample... | auckly |
| The Watermelon Problem | This is a combinatorics problem that has a number of generalizations. The following video missed the introduction to the activity. In the introductio... | auckly |
| Theon's Ladder and Squangular Numbers | This lesson investigates numbers that are triangular and square at the same time, and relates these numbers to a well known approximation scheme for t... | auckly |
| Think Extreme | Presenting one idea together with a collection of problems based on that idea is the comfort food of math circle lesson plans. This lesson lists prob... | auckly |
| Tiling and Induction | This is a lesson plan created by Matthias Kawski for the Circle on the Road workshop. This session focuses on planar problems: Use a set of flat til... | auckly |
| Topology of Surfaces and Three-Dimensional Spaces | This lesson builds intuition about surfaces and three-dimensional spaces from a topological perspective. There is a lot of opportunity for imaginatio... | greenlinda |
| Towers of Hanoi for Elementary students | A lesson used at the East Lansing Elementary Math Circle for exploring the Towers of Hanoi with second-fourth graders. Includes an introduction to re... | ashleyahlin |
| Various exercises | The four lessons attached in the following website serve as good warm-up exercises for experienced learners or as problem solving exercises for beginn... | Pi |
