Alyson:

ArcytechTABLE 16.2

Math Tools

This site includes resources for every area of maths you could possibly want, categorised into broad subheadings. An easier way to find what you need is to view the whole list of topics, each with how many resources it has written in brackets next to it. Each resource comes up with a small blurb when you place your mouse over it, so you know what you’re getting before you click on it, which is a help to find the better ones faster.

Most resources on this site require a fee for you to be allowed to print them. Many of the resources are simple worksheets but there are some interactive-type sites, eg Working With Fractions. Finding good ones might take a while because there is so much on this site.

There are lesson plans, stories, activities and technological tools available on the site and places to discuss, rate and review. The Getting Started page tells you what kind of resources are available on the site and how to search for them.

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives

This site allows you to download a free trial desktop version of the software. Resources are ordered both in topic areas (Number & Operations, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement and Data Analysis & Probability) and in grade levels (K-12), so browsing through them is easy. It offers interactive resources rather than lesson plans.

Project Interactive

This site offers 90 lessons divided into topics, for students in years 3-12.

It also includes over 100 discussions, which are extremely useful for preparing for students’ questions.

Interactive activities are also categorised into topics, and there are over 100 of those too. You can search for topics within the site, which makes it easy to find whatever you’re looking for.

Educational Software Components of Tomorrow (ESCOT) Project

This site has about 40 interactive problems but is very technological and the site itself is not interesting. The font is small and it is unappealing. The activities are well written with reflections and extra questions so if you were used to using technology the activities might be very good.

Arcytech

This site offers only a few maths interactive activities. Only about three would be relevant for a high school classroom. You can only use these if your system and browser are Java capable.

Count On

This site is brightly coloured but finding your way around is not as easy as with some of the other sites. There are fun games but little is written about the content so finding a relevant one would be tricky. The site offers The Handbook for Leading Mathematics Teachers and a section on misconceptions, so it might prove useful for a teacher, but doesn’t have anything that could be used for classroom activities (not easily found ones anyway!)