413 mind-stretchers results | sort by:

Algebra Meltdown - Manga High
Grades
3 to 8In the Classroom
Have a team competition on the interactive whiteboard or projector and challenge students to move on to higher levels. Students who aren't playing will still be learning as they try to solve problems along with the players. Use the activity as an introduction to algebra skills included in the interactive, such as multiplying and dividing with negatives. Challenge students to come up with the formulas for multiplying and dividing negatives based on correct responses in the activity.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Plastelina Logic Games
Grades
3 to 8In the Classroom
Have a team competition as students use the site on an interactive whiteboard or projector and try to see who can solve the puzzles first. Use the puzzles as a quick time filler and revisit on occasion until the puzzle is solved.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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LEGO Education Activities - LEGO Education
Grades
K to 12tag(s): creativity (118), critical thinking (120), logic (247), problem solving (294)
In the Classroom
Expose your students to different levels of the learning spiral by challenging them to use problem-solving skills for increasingly difficult obstacles. Students can work in small groups to foster cooperation and teamwork as they sort, graph, follow and give directions, and discuss ideas. Of course you will need some LEGOs, so you might try raiding your own children's toy boxes, include a request in your classroom newsletter for donations, look around for LEGO kits collecting dust on classroom shelves, or put it on your school's PTA wish list. Be sure to have cooperative learning groups video their activities to share with the rest of the class using a site such as SchoolTube (reviewed here).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Gymnasium For Brain - Sitalakshmi Seshadrinathan
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): logic (247), problem solving (294)
In the Classroom
Use this site as a resource for a problem of the day activity. Challenge students to solve and provide explanations to logic puzzles and create their own problems. Display on the interactive whiteboard or projector as a springboard to class discussion of the Mathematics involved within each of the problems.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Lesson: Life After Trash - Teach Engineering
Grades
6 to 9tag(s): critical thinking (120), engineering (129), problem solving (294)
In the Classroom
A week or so before conducting this simulation activity, ask students to bring in recyclables and clean trash from home. This will cut down on the amount of trash you need to collect, and it will add variety to the supplies. Set up the activity by talking about trash, where it comes from and where it goes. Discuss better alternatives for trash "disposal" such as recycling and reusing. Have students think of obvious reuses for materials and then explain that there are other alternatives to obvious uses. Introduce the activity and basic rules and safety to the students. Arrange them in groups of three or four and then allow them to "shop" the classroom "landfill" to create new things out of old trash. Follow up with discussion of group products, uses, and real life applications of this idea such as recycled art.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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MathSlice
Grades
1 to 12tag(s): light (51), logic (247), puzzles (203), sight words (36), sound (105), worksheets (63)
In the Classroom
Display games on the interactive whiteboard or projector for students during indoor recess times. Allow students to try the interactives during computer time to reinforce current concepts taught. This is a great link to post on your class website for students (and parents) to try at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Brain Den
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): brain (68), logic (247), optical illusions (13), puzzles (203)
In the Classroom
Enrich gifted students' learning by having them explore the puzzles and teasers on this site. Try having students solve the geometry puzzles or algebra puzzles and then ask them to present their solution to classmates using a multimedia presentation. Challenge students to create a video and share using a site such as SchoolTube, reviewed here. Students could also try to create their own puzzles. Share the puzzles on an online, interactive poster using Lucidpress, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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fastr - a flickr game - random chaos
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): flexibility (5), images (278), vocabulary (321)
In the Classroom
Share a fastr game on your projector or interactive whiteboard to get the mental juices flowing at the start of class. Build word choice vocabulary for speech/language students or ESL/ELL students as they guess what word the photos have in common. Extend the experience by having students create their own groups of images (perhaps even taking their own with a digital camera) to support a curriculum concept, such as "omnivore" or "well." Use this tool in combination with a Flickr search tool such as FlickrCC reviewed here to help students understand tagging and see how an unusual combination of images can share the same tag.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Wordslide
Grades
2 to 7In the Classroom
This is a great 5-minute activity when you don't have time to start a new lesson. Have a student "emcee" use it on your interactive whiteboard or projector to challenge the class to find all of the word combinations. Discuss the words created to demonstrate spelling and phonics patterns found.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Luminosity - Brain Games - Lumos Labs Inc.
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): brain (68), psychology (66)
In the Classroom
What a great way to give kids a brain break while still keeping them focused. This site can be used on an interactive whiteboard or projector with the whole class. Psychology classes may want to investigate the games and how/why they might affect memory and brain function. The website is also a great tool to use as a center or to provide a student reward. Some of the games do not require a sign in but others do. Teachers could create a class login that students could use to access the additional games.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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iPlay Math Games - IPMG Publishing
Grades
K to 12tag(s): logic (247), manipulatives (36), patterns (87), percent (82), probability (141)
In the Classroom
This site will give you a bevy of activity options for your students to try in the classroom to support their learning. Use these activities to plan a Math Night for parents, homework help, embed a link in your classroom website, or send out as an attachment with electronic class newsletters.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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New York Times Mathematics Lesson Plans - New York Times
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): charts and graphs (198), statistics (127)
In the Classroom
Use the lessons found on this page to enhance mathematics class curriculum. Have students work on activities independently on laptops in class. If computer access is limited, print out activities and have students work in groups on calculations and guide them using the interactive whiteboard or projector. This also provides the automatic connection between real life and the math strategies and concepts. Take advantage of these timely topics. Be sure to save this site in your favorites and check back often for some fresh ideas.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Break It Down! - Science Net Links
Grades
4 to 8tag(s): machines (27), simple machines (35)
In the Classroom
Introduce this challenge on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Students could use this activity as practice or enrichment during science computer labs or when assigned work is complete. Challenge individual students (or pairs) to see who can complete the activity (successfully) in the shortest amount of time. Ask student groups to write an explanation of the physics of how the system works once they successfully complete it.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Sliding Block Puzzle Page - Nick Baxter
Grades
1 to 12In the Classroom
Share these puzzles on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) as a mind-bending challenge. Help students develop problem-solving skills such as thinking several steps ahead by offering the link on your class web page. Higher level and gifted math students can try to determine a formula for calculating the number of moves it may take to solve a puzzle. Give awards to students who accomplish the "goal" in the stated number of moves, then ask them to explain their strategy or think aloud as they repeat it on an interactive whiteboard. Offer a puzzle club for your mathematical/logical thinkers or simply develop visual thinking skills by sharing these challenges.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Armored Penguin - Armored Penguin
Grades
K to 12tag(s): holidays (141), logic (247), puzzles (203), vocabulary (321)
In the Classroom
Need a puzzle to reinforce the words in a particular unit? You may find one already created. If not, it is simple to create and save to your computer or share by URL (remember the online version is saved for two months). Use the "Quotes" page for great quotes of the day, the "Illusions" page for optical illusions, or the "Fresh Words" page to see what words can be made from a word, phrase, or collection of letters. Have cooperative learning groups create their own puzzle pages for a topic that they are researching or learning about in class and use them to challenge their classmates or another section of the course. Have students create puzzles as a cost-free, printable gift for families on special occasions such as Mother's Day.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Math Apprentice - mathapprentice.com
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): business (58), careers (139), equations (151), measurement (175), ratios (63), STEM (174)
In the Classroom
This site is a terrific example of STEM integrated learning. This is a great site to share on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Have cooperative learning groups explore different careers or buildings and share how math is used at their locations. Why not have groups create a video using a tool such as Teachers.TV (reviewed here) or a podcast using PodOmatic (reviewed here), to share their mathematical discoveries! At the end of an introduction of a concept, use this site for specific math practice using a real life concept. For example, visit the bike shop to use math to determine pedal gear to wheel gear ratios and resultant bike speeds. Use as an individual activity, a team activity, or with the entire class using an interactive whiteboard. Follow up with a personal problem to solve. In this example, students can measure the two gears on their bikes (or their teachers bike brought into the classroom) to use the information for further understanding.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Visual Complexity - Manuel Lima
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): data (161), infographics (51), maps (298), visualizations (13)
In the Classroom
Share the graphics on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Use data visualizations to ask questions about interactions among the parts shown. For example, use any of the food chain visualizations to look at the interactions in the chains and identify roles of organisms. Ask students to use the whiteboard tools to explain how the visual "shows" the underlying information. Be prepared for less visual students to struggle while more visual students thrive using such a tool. Share the interesting map graphics in geography class. Use this at the beginning of a discussion and identify the organisms in the chain to uncover the relationships. Use the graphics for creative writing projects (displaying the graphic on a whiteboard while students react in writing). Ask your gifted students to choose a graphic they particularly enjoy as an inspiration to create one of their own.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Must Pop words - Bart Bonte
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): spelling (168)
In the Classroom
Challenge students to create as many words as possible. Alter games by creating rules (such as 5 letters or more per word) to make the game more interesting. Be sure to demonstrate this on your interactive whiteboard or projector. This is also a great way for students to practice keyboarding skills, vocabulary, and spelling skills together!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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20 Questions - 20Q.netInc.
Grades
5 to 12When you arrive at the site, click your language (there are MANY languages to choose from). Enter your gender, age, and location (optional). Then choose the "game" you wish to try. Some are more commercial (Disney, The Simpsons, or Star Trek). Others have educational value (Harry Potter, Earth, or Classic, Famous people). This is a fun and challenging activity. There are disclaimers that the "game gets smarter" the more you play because the game compiles facts over time. It is involving and fun to play. The site does include some advertisements.
tag(s): trivia (19)
In the Classroom
Share this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Teachers could have students research a person, place or thing and then use their research to play twenty questions against the computer. It could also be used as review if posted to the class wiki and then completed independently by students at home. Use this as a first day or first week activity, have students try the 20 question game about names and see if the computer can figure out their name. Use the Earth activity for geography practice in cooperative learning groups or as a class activity. In world language classes, choose the appropriate language to practice vocabulary about animals and other categories of information. As a culminating project in any class, have students create their own 20 question activity and quiz the class! You will be teaching HOTS (higher order thinking skills) as students use classification to create their questions.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Math Interactives - Alberta Education
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): data (161), equations (151), exponents (43), integers (40), numbers (197), square roots (22)
In the Classroom
Use these great activities with an interactive whiteboard or projector to engage students and identify underlying math rules. Students can work individually or in groups on the "Use It" activities for guided practice in understanding the math concepts. Use the "Explore it" activities for additional practice or to uncover the math concepts. Students can create their own interactive directions using wikis, video or photo tutorials, or podcast which can be shared with others. Not sure where to begin with the multimedia projects? Not comfortable with wikis? Have no wiki worries - check out the TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through. Having students create a video? Use a video sharing site such as Teachers.TV reviewed here. Looking to narrate an image? Try ThingLink, reviewed here. Not sure where to create Podcasts? Try a site such as PodOmatic (reviewed here).Comments
This is a great resource. I will use it during our Exponents unit.Nancy, GA, Grades: 6 - 12
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