UPDATE: Supporting worksheet by Brian Arnold! :-) The 60th in Mr Barton's Autograph Video tutorial series. In this video we take a look at an activity I like to use with my classes called Co-ordinate Battleships. I use this either to revise the equations of straight line graphs or even to introduce the topic. Teams take it in turn to launch their missiles (in the form of straight line graphs) in order to sink the ships (the co-ordinates). We look at how you can easily create this page on Autograph, and then some possible extension work after the sea battles are over.

Activity to practice all four operations. Generates an infinite number of questions, difficulty can be altered by adjusting the range of numbers.

A video on how we can use autograph to manipulate continuous data. The thirteenth video in Mr Barton's Autograph tutorial series. In a jam-packed edition we start to look at how Autograph can group raw data for us and how this opens up a whole new set of possibilities in terms of mathematical diagrams, including cumulative frequency curves, histograms and stem and leaf. Below the video you will find an option to download it and play it on a larger screen, or by clicking on the web-link you can see all the videos in this series.

A brilliant Tarsia activity by Gill Hillitt on using the R cos method in trigonometry. These type of activities can be used to consolidate understanding of a given topic, and foster positive group work and co-operative learning. For more ideas on how to use these types of activities (including twists!) and to download the latest version of the wonderful free software to open this resource (and create your own), just click on the web-link. If you have any comments or feedback for Gill, please share them below.

An article about the maths behind the chances of winning the lottery.

A 2nd Tarsia activity on Negative Numbers. These type of activities can be used to consolidate understanding of a given topic, and foster positive group work and co-operative learning. For more ideas on how to use these types of activities (including twists!) and to download the latest version of the wonderful free software to open this resource (and create your own), just click on the web-link. If you have any comments, or spot any (non deliberate!) mistakes, please share them below. Many thanks to all the teachers who have helped me assemble these Tarsias over the years.

A Tarsia activity on linear sequences (nth term rule). These type of activities can be used to consolidate understanding of a given topic, and foster positive group work and co-operative learning. For more ideas on how to use these types of activities (including twists!) and to download the latest version of the wonderful free software to open this resource (and create your own), just click on the web-link. If you have any comments, or spot any (non deliberate!) mistakes, please share them below. Many thanks to all the teachers who have helped me assemble these Tarsias over the years.

A tutorial on how to use the Normal Distribution in Autograph. Douglas Butler, the Autograph creator, looks at a really interesting way of how we can fit a normal distribution to data using Autograph. To see all the videos in Mr Barton’s Autograph Video series, just click on the web-link below.

An Autograph Player activity designed to investigate cumulative frequency diagrams / curves. You can use this activity on the interactive whiteboard, or for your students to investigate on their own. Autograph does not need to be installed to use this activity (so your students can even use it at home), but you will need to install the free Autograph Player add-on (instructions given after clicking the link). For a full list of Autograph Activities, please click on the other web-link.

The 11th in a new series of videos where each week I visit my favourite mathematics websites. Google can always be relied upon to come up with the goods, and this little website is no exception. Google have taken all of the 5.2million books that they have access to from the last 200 years, analysed all 500 billion words of them, and made it possible to search for the relative frequency of any of the words within them. So, how does garlic compare to onion over the last couple of centuries? How about radio, television and the internet? Lots of fun with numbers and graphs to be had here.

A really nice activity kindly donated by John White where students must arrange the steps required to solve equations in the correct order!

A Tarsia activity on solving equations. These type of activities can be used to consolidate understanding of a given topic, and foster positive group work and co-operative learning. For more ideas on how to use these types of activities (including twists!) and to download the latest version of the wonderful free software to open this resource (and create your own), just click on the web-link. If you have any comments, or spot any (non deliberate!) mistakes, please share them below. Many thanks to all the teachers who have helped me assemble these Tarsias over the years.

A 2nd Tarsia activity on Equivalent Fractions. These type of activities can be used to consolidate understanding of a given topic, and foster positive group work and co-operative learning. For more ideas on how to use these types of activities (including twists!) and to download the latest version of the wonderful free software to open this resource (and create your own), just click on the web-link. If you have any comments, or spot any (non deliberate!) mistakes, please share them below. Many thanks to all the teachers who have helped me assemble these Tarsias over the years.

A Tarsia activity on simplifying expressions. These type of activities can be used to consolidate understanding of a given topic, and foster positive group work and co-operative learning. For more ideas on how to use these types of activities (including twists!) and to download the latest version of the wonderful free software to open this resource (and create your own), just click on the web-link. If you have any comments, or spot any (non deliberate!) mistakes, please share them below. Many thanks to all the teachers who have helped me assemble these Tarsias over the years.

A Tarsia activity on Fractions, Decimals and Percentages. These type of activities can be used to consolidate understanding of a given topic, and foster positive group work and co-operative learning. For more ideas on how to use these types of activities (including twists!) and to download the latest version of the wonderful free software to open this resource (and create your own), just click on the web-link. If you have any comments, or spot any (non deliberate!) mistakes, please share them below. Many thanks to all the teachers who have helped me assemble these Tarsias over the years.

A 2nd Tarsia activity on Standard Form. These type of activities can be used to consolidate understanding of a given topic, and foster positive group work and co-operative learning. For more ideas on how to use these types of activities (including twists!) and to download the latest version of the wonderful free software to open this resource (and create your own), just click on the web-link. If you have any comments, or spot any (non deliberate!) mistakes, please share them below. Many thanks to all the teachers who have helped me assemble these Tarsias over the years.

The 21st in Mr Barton's Autograph Video tutorial series. This week we look at our third Circle Theorem - the classic Angles in the Same Segment Theorem. There is also a quick demonstration of how to set up a nice looking label for points, and a twist that you might want to try on your students. Below the video you will find an option to download it and play it on a larger screen, or by clicking on the web-link you can see all the videos in this series.

Earliest recommended Year group: Year 12. An integration activity around the area bounded by two parabolas. Some pupils are confused if the area straddles the x-axis. This activity addresses this. This is from the “Something in Common” collection of resources by John Burke. They allow consolidation of key skills, prevent students from copying each other (as all the questions are different), make marking and assessing easy for the teacher (as all the answers are the same!), and provide a lovely extra challenge for students as they try to figure out exactly what is going on! To access the full collection, and read John’s background notes, please visit: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/common.htm

A 2nd Tarsia activity on Indices. These type of activities can be used to consolidate understanding of a given topic, and foster positive group work and co-operative learning. For more ideas on how to use these types of activities (including twists!) and to download the latest version of the wonderful free software to open this resource (and create your own), just click on the web-link. If you have any comments, or spot any (non deliberate!) mistakes, please share them below. Many thanks to all the teachers who have helped me assemble these Tarsias over the years.

A GCSE and A Level tutorial video on how to use Autograph to teach the Binomial Distribution. The instructions and guide is very clear. The 41st in Mr Barton's Autograph Video tutorial series. In this video we continue our look at statistics and probability by seeing how Autograph can be used to introduce the concept of the binomial distribution. We look at the classic example of tossing a coin to create dot plots and box and whisker diagrams, and then we introduce a nice little twist... Clicking on the web-link you can see all the videos in this series.