Just in the middle of developing a new mystery numbers and I’ve come across some fascinating resources. Here they are:
The Value of Nature and the Nature of Value
Capital Region District: Habitat Loss and Degradation
Will keep working away on this over the coming week.
Posted in Intermediate, Math, Mystery Numbers
I feel like I’m on a roll here! I am very happy to find yet another excellent Canadian with a collection of interesting numbers. Thank you, Chis Hadfield.
New to Mystery Numbers? Click the headings for more information.
950,000
2012
1
166
100,000,000
2001
30
1995
22,000,000
14
Units and Important Matching Terms:
Km
Followers
Hours
Year (their are 3 different years in the number list)
Days
Minutes
Views
st Canadian to…
Expert Source: click here
Make sure that you let all students read the expert source. Did they match up the terms/units with the numbers properly? They should also use the expert source to add extra information to each matching pair. For example: 100,000,000 is paired with km, but it is also important to know that Chris Hadfield travelled 100,000,000 in space from Dec. 2012-May 2013.
Early Finishers?
Find extra interesting facts about Chris Hadfield!
Enjoy!
Posted in Uncategorized
I worked very hard to find good numbers on Dr. Roberta Bondar. It was a major victory when I finally did! I recommend following this with Chris Hadfield (MN13).
New to Mystery Numbers? Click headings for more information.
1
129
307
5,407,000,000
13,001
1992
3,360
14
291
193
Units and Important Matching Terms:
th Flight
Kg
Km*
Perigee
Million miles*
Revolutions
Hours
Year
st Canadian female astronaut
Apogee
*the km number is actually listed as million km (5,470 million km instead of 5,470,000,000). I puzzled over the unit and thought it might be clearer to list the number in plain kilometres. I kept the million miles number simply for discussion and comparison. You can change these numbers any way you wish.
Expert Source: Click here
As with Terry Fox and Rick Hansen, provide each student with the research link to make matches and find more information.
Posted in Uncategorized
I didn’t think of tackling a Rick Hansen Mystery Numbers last year! I wish I had. It is an excellent follow up to Terry Fox.
New to Mystery Numbers? Click each heading for more information.
200,000
792
4
40,075.16 (round to the nearest one, if you wish)
17.5
26,000,000
34
1,700
126
11,557.58
Days
Km
Dollars
Flat tires
Continents
Meters
%
Letters
Countries
(One of these units needs to be used twice)
Expert Source: click here
Just like with Terry Fox, I would get the kids to read, find out which units match which numbers and write down a little extra information to make the list more meaningful.
Enjoy!
Posted in Uncategorized
I did this with my grade 3/4 class at the beginning of last school year. It worked really well for that age group and will work well for grade 5’s too.
New to Mystery Numbers? Click the main headings for information.
The Numbers: By the way, I added a prep step. I didn’t simply provide my students with a list of numbers. I typed them up, printed and cut them out. This helped several of my students needing adaptations. It made it much easier for sorting.
5,000
1980
42
143
5,373
1
24,170,000
760
300,000
715,000,000
km
dollars
participants
sites
days
starting date
* some units need to be used more than once!
Expert Source: By the way, I gave all students access to this link because I had a reading and research objective as well. My squirrelly class was very intensely focused for this step. They were to find and record extra information to give each unit even more meaning. For example, it is useful to know that 42 goes with km, but it becomes even more meaningful when you know that Terry Fox ran 42 km EVERY DAY!
Enjoy!
Posted in Mystery Numbers!, People
This one is completely different than the first one! There are two main reasons for this: one is ticket price inflation, the other is worldwide vs domestic numbers. See if your student can figure these out. By the way, I regularly test these lists out on my sons (aged 12 and 14) just to see if they enjoy solving them. They were particularly interested in these last two lists 🙂
Not sure how Mystery Numbers works? Click the main headings for information.
1,175,763,500
1,854,769,700
1,015,300,400
1,244,347,300
1,000,620,000
1,139,563,500
1,635,137,900
1,307,373,200
1,202,580,000
1,302,222,800
Unit: Dollars. Like with MN8, I recommend that you get your students to express these numbers using the unit billion dollars and rounding to the nearest thousandth. Why? They’ll often see large numbers expressed this way because they are easier to read. Plus, it is always a good idea to remind them that even a thousandth of a billion dollars is still a lot of money!
Dr. Zhivago
Pirates of the Caribbean
Gone with the Wind
Wizard of Oz
Titanic
Jaws
The Exorcist
Indiana Jones
E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial
Snow White
Star Wars: A New Hope
Bambi
The Sound of Music
Expert Source:
Business Insider: Highest Grossing Films of All Time (Click Here)
Posted in Mystery Numbers!, Pop Culture
So! A lighter topic. Still interesting, though. I recommend tackling MN9 right after this. Two completely different highest grossing movies of all time lists? Why?
Not sure how Mystery Numbers works? Click the main headings for information.
2,054,708,260
1,670,400,637
1,516,045,911
1,405,413,868
2,186,722,302
2,787,965,087
1,519,557,910
1,341,511,219
2,003,241,872
Unit:
Dollars! Get the kids to switch it to billion dollars to get them practicing expressing the numbers more simply. Round to the nearest thousandth. For example: 1,519,557,910 dollars becomes 1.520 billion dollars.
Marvel’s The Avengers
Black Panther
Frozen
Avatar
Avengers: Infinity War
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of theKing
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Titanic
Minions
Furious 7
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Jurassic World
Newsday Biggest Box Office Hits of All Time: click here
Posted in Uncategorized
Take a little time to explore GDP per capita. If it is low, is it really a problem? How can you tell?
First, GDP per capita is an imaginary measure. It is a basic average calculation of GDP divided by the population of a given nation. In reality, no wealth is ever distributed that way. There are always those who earn more than others.
Here is an activity you can try with your class. It works best if you have a neighbouring class that is willing to work with you. One class will have a high GDP per capita and the other will have a lower one.
Your students are all members of a tiny, imaginary island nation (you can come up with a name if you wish). This island is located near another island nation. The islands are very different from one another.
Population of the island = population of your class
Cut the following cards out (when you click one of these links, you will not automatically see the document. Click the link a second time and the document will appear): GDP per capita Island 1 GDP per capita Island 2
Distribute them so that each member of your class has one. On each card is basic personal information and annual income.
First:
Use income information to calculate the GDP and the GDP per capita for your nation. You can give partners a class list and have them move around to collect the necessary information. Regroup and double check answers as a class. You can also take your time with this information to practice or review median, mean and mode.
Compare the information. Which nation is the wealthiest? Even though GDP per capita hides inequality, does it still give you a good measure of which country is wealthier? Why do you think one country is so much wealthier than the other? Is it a problem that one nation has much less than the other?
Time to look at two other good stats: Life Expectancy and Literacy Rates
Each card has two other pieces of information: whether or not you can read or write and how old you are when you die. The class is going to use this information to calculate Life Expectancy averages and Literacy Rates (%). Calculate the overall rates for your class and also look at the difference between male and female results.
Compare the information. Which nation has the longest average life expectancy? Which nation has the highest literacy rate? Are there any differences between male and female rates for your nation? What does this all tell you about quality of life in your island nation? Does this change if you are a female? Why do you think the two nations are so different? Where would you rather live? Why?
Finally…
Check out the GDP per capita, life expectancy and literacy rates for the 10 underprivileged nations: MN6. Are these nations plagued with low life expectancy and literacy rates, too? Would they be difficult places to live?
Plus, of course, it is important to reflect on GDP per capita as an accurate measure of poverty. Why is it always important to look at other statistics (like literacy rates and life expectancy) before using it to judge a country? You can look at wealth distribution as well, if you are on a roll. There is a tidy little measure called the Gini Index on the CIA World Factbook that you can explore. This might be a good time to compare to Canada, as well. What is our GDP per capita? Is our wealth shared equally?
Posted in Geography, Mystery Numbers!, People
Each number list is paired with a corresponding list that provides it with context and meaning. There are lists of people, countries, animals and objects, for example. Once the kids know the basic topic, numbers and unit, they need to properly match the corresponding lists.
You have a choice to either provide the kids with the randomized list directly after the unit has been revealed or make them play for it a little longer.
If you choose the second option, you need to get them to create a preliminary list on their own. For example, if the kids know that the numbers represent highest country populations, they then work together to generate lists of possible countries first. I like to provide my students with maps that they can interpret here. Great for the geography skills. Be careful not to let them on their devices, however! Too easy to cheat :). I would print one out, use an atlas or project one on the board.
If you choose the first option, know that I always include a couple of extra bogus items on each list. They should eliminate these first. Again, play for points. Then, they need to match up each item with a number. They should work in groups of course and sometimes they will still need help in the form of a map or a bit of extra information.
Time to compare results! How close did they come? It would be great if your expert created a flashy powerpoint for this stage. Assign positive points for every correct match and negative points for every mistake.
Once the real list is revealed and kids have had a chance to see how close they came, they can dig into the story a little further. For example, once the kids know the GDP of various nations, they should be introduced to wealth sharing percentages. It creates a fuller, more complex picture. They should have a chance to ask and wrap their heads around possible answers. Why are there two completely different lists for the top 10 box office earning movies of all time? Why are civilian casualty numbers for World War 2 rounded to the nearest thousand? How did they determine world populations ten thousand years ago? They say that numbers don’t lie, but how can we trust them for sure?
These are all interesting and important questions. Stoke your students’ enthusiasm the best you can during this phase. Pay close attention to conversations, mining them for insights and questions. Be curious yourself. This is my favourite part and will be your’s too.
Show students the raw numbers randomized in a list. Their first job is to simply organize and break these numbers down a little.
Here are some tasks to build number sense:
I wouldn’t necessarily get your students to do all of these tasks all of the time. Some of them are necessary (ordering, word forms), but others can be used as you see fit.
Handy tip: after students have built the numbers, they should take a photo with their devices and link it to their work.
Game Time!
Once the kids feel comfortable with the numbers, they’ll need to determine the topic. This is where your experts come in. If you like, play a little 20 questions as a class. The experts can only answer yes or no to these questions. Keep going until the topic is uncovered!
You can play teachers vs kids for points. If they hit 20 questions without guessing the topic, the teacher takes a point for every question over 20. Kids get points for the number of questions left until they reach 20 questions. I would introduce integers this way. Everyone starts at zero. Kids points have a positive value, teacher points have a negative value. Track points using two different number lines. Kids know how many point they have by adding the negative points to the positive points. Anyway, a little friendly competition is always fun! Keep track of the points over time. You determine the prize (I like a fun game outside).
Story Details!
Once the topic is uncovered, the kids need to revisit the numbers. Any thoughts on what these numbers are describing? The kids can brainstorm in groups. Compare ideas in a class discussion. Dollars? Grams? Might some numbers actually represent percentages? What makes the most sense? Again, you can play for team points. The class can decide how certain they are about their answer. Very certain? They can risk a larger number of team points. Not as certain? Risk fewer. If they are wrong, the teacher collects what the class risked. Get your expert to reveal the unit!
