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Topic: Stimulus
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ABS Spotlight
“On Tuesday, August 9 2011, Australia had a Census. But what can a Census really tell us about Australia, and about ourselves? Spotlight can help you find out.”
Airplane infront of the moon
WCYDWT? This image is a great stimulus to build a similar triangle problem. Students could use the internet to find out various dimensions and demonstrate or calculate a missing variable such as: how high was the plane flying. See also http://www.iceinspace.com.au/iotw.html?iotwid=137 and forum for more details. Could load image into GeoGebra for more accurate modelling.
Buffon’s Needle simulation to generate Pi
A high quality Flash Animation to demonstrate Buffon’s Needle Theorem. Fire it up on your IWB and leave it running for a good while to get closer and closer to the value of Pi.
A great resource to use when introducing students to the surprising mathematics involving Pi.
Leading Questions - Yes Prime Minister
Sir Humphrey Appleby demonstrates the use of leading questions to skew an opinion survey to support or oppose National Service (Military Conscription).
Pictorial Proofs of Euclid’s Elements
Full scan of Oliver Byrne’s 1847 masterpiece: Euclid’s Elements presented in colour pictogram style proofs (proofs with very few words). Pages can be used to give to students to decipher/explain – or as part of an exploration of the idea and history of mathematical proof. See for example http://www.math.ubc.ca/~cass/Euclid/book1/byrne-4.html
The world at seven billion
The world’s population is expected to hit seven billion in the next few weeks. After growing very slowly for most of human history, the number of people on Earth has more than doubled in the last 50 years. Where do you fit into this story of human life? Fill in your date of birth below to find out.