Amazing Maths websites - all free resorces

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Top >10 Mathematics
Websites
Colleen Young

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Top >10 Mathematics Websites
Any presentation claiming a
top 10 (or >10 in my case)
is clearly showing you the
author’s top 10, not
the top 10!
The images and/or text in
the slides provide hyperlinks
for further information.
Because I have used categories as
well as individual websites this
gives me the excuse to mention
as many sites as I like, hence
>10!
These are my top >10
because I really do use them
– a lot – in the classroom!

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Contents
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25 28 31 34 37
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CambridgeUniversity Desmos WolframAlpha Problems&Activities Questions&Exercises
Notes&Videos Applets,Calculators Scratch,GeoGebra,
Tarsia,Plotley
Games SharingIdeas&
Resources

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Contents
Images which link
directly to a site
and/or further
information
Further information
and commentary.
In each section listed
in the Contents,
you will find:
A section header
describing the
section which follows

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Inspiring, challenging
and engaging online
Mathematics
resources.
Cambridge
University

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The Nrich Project
from the University
of Cambridge aims
to enrich the
mathematical
experiences of all
learners
Nrich

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Nrich
Nrich- a favourite site I return to again
and again. The site has extensive
resources including problems, games,
interactives and articles for teachers.
Choose the stage required from
Teachers’ or Students’ menus on the
front page. Choosing Secondary under
Teachers for example includes a link
(under Collections) to an
excellent stage 3 and 4 curriculum
page which suggest NRICH activities by
curriculum topic. Also, very usefully,
activities are listed by mathematical
processes such as Thinking
Strategically and Working
Systematically.
Note also the link to the mapping
document which is very valuable when
searching for activities.
It is also possible to Search by
topic and Activities organised by topics
are also available on student
pages. The Other Resources
collection includes the excellent poster
collection as well as a wealth of other
resources. The guides for Students and
Teachers include links to register for
newsletters.
For the Interactive Whiteboard there are
many outstanding interactives.
Contents

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Underground
Mathematics has
the aim of “Enabling
all students to
explore the
connections that
underpin
mathematics”
Underground
Mathematics

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Underground
Mathematics
From the University of Cambridge
comes Underground Mathematics which
started in 2012 as the
Cambridge Mathematics Education
Project (CMEP). The site provides a
library of rich resources for age 16+
students with the aim of “Enabling all
students to explore the connections that
underpin mathematics”. Underground
Mathematics is being developed by the
University of Cambridge, funded by a
grant from the UK Department for
Education. The resources are free for all
users; you can read more about the
team and their philosophy here.
Follow Underground Mathematics
on Twitter or Facebook.
Scroll down the main page and you will
find a clear ‘How-to’ guide; use the
menus and/or watch the video.
Resources are helpfully classified by
type and you can browse in many ways.
Note that you can also select individual
elements on the map. Try Quadratics for
example and check the station guide for
information. Looking at the guide led me
to Name that graph; as with all the
resources on the site more than just the
problem is provided, we also have
printable resources, solutions and
teachers notes.
Contents

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The outstanding
graphing calculator for
students of all ages
Desmos

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Desmos
The superb graphing calculator from Desmos
can be used by students of all ages from
young students learning about coordinates
and graphs to students studying for
Mathematics degrees.
It is simple to use but has many sophisticated
features.
For a series of pages on using Desmos
including examples of syntax see this
collection of pages.
Apps are available for both iOS and Android.
iOS apps
AndroidApp
Contents

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A computationnel
knowledge engine
rather good at
Mathematics!
WolframAlpha

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WolframAlpha
WolframAlpha - a computational
knowledge engine which is rather good
at Mathematics (as well as many other
subjects!).This is so useful for checking
solutions or exploring many examples. A
series of pages on WolframAlpha
includes slideshows to demonstrate
syntax.
WolframAlpha can be used with
students of all ages from the very
youngest to degree level students.
A post written for students with some
questions to try can be found on
Mathematics for Students .
Contents

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If you are searching
for problems and
activities for your
Mathematics lesson or
perhaps for homework
where do you start?.
Problems
&
Activities

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Problems & Activities
Problems – There are many excellent
sites providing resources for problems,
many are highlighted on their own
pages.
See the following pages:
Problems and Activities
Rich Tasks
Resources
Students enjoy variety, to quote one of
my students when asked about what
makes a good Maths teacher?:
Use different media, it’s really
important – the ordinary board,
the whiteboard, worksheets,
jigsaws, cut and stick (matching
up exercises), drawing, walk
around the classroom problems
(treasure hunts), computers.
Contents

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Questions to get your
students thinking and
exercises to secure
skills
Questions
&
Exercises

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Questions &
Exercises
We should plan for questions carefully in
our lessons, we need questions to really
make our students think and we need
questions to help them practise skills.
See:
Rich Questions, in particular Questions
Worth Asking and Diagnostic Questions
Revision Activities
If we asked the students for their top
Maths websites I know most of mine
would include BBC bitesize which
includes questions to try.
Suggestions for students:
Questions – lots of questions
Contents

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Notes and videos to
support student
learning
Notes
&
Videos

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Notes & Videos
Students sometimes ask for extra
examples or notes which prompted me
to include pages on both:
Notes
Videos
If all that is needed is a definition, why
not display one from an online resource
students could then refer to at home?
Reference – see in particular Jenny
Eather’s dictionary and the glossary for
teachers.
Many universities make excellent notes
available online for all students.
See this Evernote shared notebook (no
login is necessary and you do not need
an Evernote account to use the
Notebook). The mathcentre in particular
has a great variety of resources
including notes and videos.
Contents

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Applets, calculators &
manipulatives to
check work,
demonstrate and
explore concepts.
Applets &
Calculators

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Applets
&Calculators
There are many great sites in this
category. There are many calculators
useful for checking work in class which
students could also use at home.
I know common searches which send
people to my blog are for the
excellent Wisweb applets.
John Page’s Math Open
Reference includes some excellent
demonstrations on constructions
Search by technology type on
the MathsTools site – this article by
Bethany Hudnutt is on the navigation of
the site.
Two more excellent sites are
the National Library of Virtual
Manipulatives and Spencer
Riley’s Teacher LED site of interactive
whiteboard resources.
Contents

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GeoGebra - dynamic
mathematics software.
Scratch – learn to
code and do some
maths too.
Tarsia – create
puzzles.
Graph and share data
with Plotly
Software

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Software
Geogebra for interactive Geometry. This
is a sophisticated program and much
support is available online in the form of
videos and tutorials. I have included
some useful links in this post. From
MIT Scratch is an object-oriented
programming language which is an
excellent resource for teaching students
programming skills as well as doing
Mathematics.
Software – a list like this would be
incomplete without
mentioning Geogebra for interactive
Geometry. This is a sophisticated
program and much support is available
online in the form of videos and tutorials.
I have included some useful links in this
post. From MIT Scratch is an object-
oriented programming language which is
an excellent resource for teaching
students programming skills as well as
doing Mathematics.
Contents

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Enhance learning with
some Mathematical
games
Games

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Games
Nrich has many articles on using
games. My own favourite Nrich games
and many other games and puzzles are
on a companion blog Mathematics
Games.
A site with many games to practise numeracy
skills at 10 different levels is Sumdog (further
information including the topics covered and
instructions for students in this post).
Contents

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Online communities,
great blogs to read
and resource sharing
Sharing
ideas &
resources

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Sharing ideas &
Resources
Finally I would not be without the various
blogs, online communities and resource
sharing sites.
For plenty of reading and great ideas try
these various excellent blogs.
Many resources have already been
mentioned in the earlier sections but
these sites all have extensive
collections; The National STEM Centre is
an outstanding example. See TES for
resources and forums and NCETM, The
Guardian Teacher Network, Mark
McCourt’s Emaths, also Twitter which
can be a great source of ideas and
information.
Thanks to the many teachers who share
excellent resources, superb examples
include Ben Cooper’s coops-online and
Just Maths for resources and a great
blog.
I would also like to mention some
favourite blogs that always make me
think – not Mathematics specific but
these have important ideas for
educators everywhere.
So - a lot more than 10 there and so
many more that I have not mentioned!
There are so many excellent free
resources for Mathematics – which is
why I enjoy writing my blog! My
favourites are all here!
Contents

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Colleen Young
https://twitter.com/ColleenYoung
Mathematics, Learning & Technology
Mathematics for Students