Published by Australian Bureau of Statistics
This site is an authoritative source of data about Australia and Australians. Contains a wealth of statistical and background information both historical and current. The Education Resources section of the site provides pointers to information on topics which may be particularly useful to students, with links to chapters, articles and key statistics from ABS publications. This area of the site also provides support for teachers, including suggestions for lesson plans and student activities and provides access to real data – including the wonderful CensusAtSchool collection, assembled from questionnaires completed by students from all over Australia. Suitable for upper primary and secondary.
Published by Curriculum Corporation
This fun, hands-on activity is a free sample lesson from the Maths 300 collection. This site has activities that allow students to create a booklet for constructing 3-part “Crazy Animals” from the printable masters provided. Students can explore the possible animal combinations, and the probability of getting each when the parts are chosen randomly. Using the downloadable software (PC and Mac) they can investigate results from a large numbers of trials. Suitable for lower/middle primary and above (with various stage-appropriate approaches and extensions to choose from).
Published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (US)
A great series of activities from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)’s E-examples collection (developed to illustrate the NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics). Teacher notes provide ideas for introducing and using the task in the classroom, as well as suggesting useful areas for reflection. A series of java applets allow students to program the movement of a “ladybug”: firstly to hide under a leaf, then to draw rectangles of various sizes, and finally to move through a maze. An extension activity using Logo is also accessible from the “rectangles” page. Suitable for early primary students.