This mini spark is about fractions and multiplying cheese and milk.

Spark your math thinking!

1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #42: Multiplying Cheese and Milk

2. This is a clip from my absolute favorite Home Improvement episode.  Most of you are probably too young to remember the show, but you can catch re-runs sometimes or find them on You Tube.  This particular episode is related to math and talks about some of the “crazy” rules and words mathematicians use

3.  The steps to multiplying fractions can be confusing.  Watch this video as a reminder. Do the math along with the teacher in the video. 

4. Figure out the answer to Jill’s “cheese milk” recipe:  1 1/2 lbs of cheese x 1 1/2 gallons of milk. Record the all of the math and the answer.

5. There are times when a math item can be called different names.  In the video above, they called mixed numbers, compound fractions. My favorite math word is radical! It can also be called root symbol. I like it so much I had a shirt made! Do a little research and find some math terms that go by more than one name.

6. Share your math mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY  coordinator.

Will future spacecraft fit in our pockets?  Learn about  this small technology and how scientists are exploring our world.

Spark your math thinking!

1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #41: Future Spacecraft
2. Watch this video, write about some of the calculation scientist must make for these tiny spacecraft to be created. 

3. Think about the following:  NASA provides opportunities for students, researchers and industry to launch their small satellite payloads on NASA’s own launches.  What type of small satellite would you build and what type of data or experiment would you carry out if you could send a small satellite to space?

4. Read about Specific Impulse on this site.  It’s some higher level math, but try to read through it and pick out at least one new thing you can write about on your recording page.

5. Read about SmallSats and CubeSats at NASA. Record some details on your recording sheet.

6. Share your math mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Wait…is this a Math Spark or a Science Spark?  Math and science are so intertwined that it’s hard to tell sometimes whether you’re doing one or the other.  Many times it’s both!

This is a date calculation puzzle to try! Other date puzzles can be found at Math Mini Spark #30 and #90.

Spark your math thinking!

1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #40: Universal Calendar Puzzle
2.  Take notes as you watch the tutorial. It is also helpful to pause the video while you are watching to do the calculations. NOTE Pause the video and calculate the date 10.19.1902.  Unpause the video to see if you were correct.

3. Please complete two date calculations of your choice from start to finish and put the date, your math and your solution on your recording page.

4. This info sheet is very helpful.  You can print it to help you do step number 3.

5. Share your math mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Why is 2 important?  It’s the only even prime number! Spend some time learning about special numbers in this math mini spark.

Spark your math thinking!

1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #37: What’s so special about that number?

2. Explore this article and find out about 4 types of special numbers. Write the name of each type and some examples on your recording page.

3. Look over this example.

Answer these questions

• How many of the numbers from 1 to 30 can you express as the difference of two perfect squares?
• What is special about the difference between squares of consecutive numbers? Why?
• What about the difference between the squares of two numbers which differ by 2? By 3? By 4…?
• When is the difference between two square numbers odd?
  And when is it even?
• What do you notice about the numbers you CANNOT express as the difference of two perfect squares?
• Reminder for your teacher-The answers to these questions can be found in the math mini park folder.

4.  Set your time for 8 minutes and explore the Almanac of Interesting Numbers at Mathigon.  In what ways could teachers and students use this site? What ways is it useful? What suggestions do you have? Record your responses on your recording sheet.

5. Share your math mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Minimum wage is the minimum hourly wage an employer can pay an employee. This number is determined by the government, and it is illegal for employers to pay their non-exempt workers anything below the minimum wage. This is very important, because it makes sure that employees do not fall into poverty.

My boys and I recently had a conversation about minimum wage and it got me thinking about my first job.  It was the late 1980’s and I was 13 years old.  I worked at Bishop’s Buffet rolling silverware in napkins and I made a whopping $2.15 an hour!

Spark your math thinking!

1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #36: Minimum Wage
2. Go to this site and click around on the map to see some of the current minimum wages in the United States. Record several observations on your recording page.
3. Look at this site and make a table of Nebraska’s minimum wage from 1968 to present.
4. Using the same site from #3, compare the minimum wage for several states. Make a table and then transfer it to a graph. Use this online graphing tool or another graphing tool of your choice.
5. Read about Nebraska’s minimum wage at this site. What kinds of jobs offer minimum wage?  Is $12.00 an hour sufficient?
6. Ask a parent, grandparent, or other adult what their first job was and how much they made per hour.
7. Share your math mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Taken from NASA.gov:  One of the reasons that ancient peoples could not predict total solar eclipses was because they did not appreciate the mathematics involved in forecasting. Also, many of the parameters needed to accurately predict eclipses had not been astronomically measured until the first century CE.

Spark your math thinking!

1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #35: The Math Behind the Solar Eclipse
2. Go to this site to read about eclipses. Then click the arrows to go through the quick facts. Record several details.
3.  Watch this video, The Coincidental Geometry of a Total Solar Eclipse, to learn more about the math involved. Take notes while watching.

4. Read and take notes about total solar eclipses at National Geographic Kids. 

5.  *Advanced: Take the NASA Challenge X Marks the Spot Linear Equations. Print out the activity sheets to get started.

6. *Advanced: Take the NASA Challenge Exploring Angular Diameter.

7. Share your math mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Where is your favorite place to eat pizza?  My Top 3 are Sortinos, Mama’s Pizza, and Papa Johns.  Of course whenever we eat pizza as a family, we have to make up some math problems!  Explore some “pizza math”!

Spark your math thinking!

1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #34: Pizza Math

2. Watch the video, Pizza Pi, and add details on your recording page.

3. Now watch this video, The Twitter Pizza Equation Explained ,and add details to your recording page showing the math behind the pizza sizes.

4. Omni has a great site with information on pizza math and an pizza size calculator. On the left side there are a few articles about pizza. Record the title of each article and 3 details from each one on your note taking sheet.

5. Now try out the calculator. You can use the measurements from one of the videos or create your own and see what the comparisons are. Record what you find.

6. OPTIONAL: Calculate the area, circumference, and price per square inch of the next pizza you order.  Make a display of the math/calculations.

7. Share your math mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.