Welcome to Mathigon: Grades 6-8

Welcome to Mathigon!

Mathigon is a mathematical playground offering best-in-class virtual manipulatives, spaced repetition multiplication flashcards, a variety of engaging activities, an extensive puzzle calendar, and interactive courses.

Polypad

Polypad is an open canvas for exploring, creating, and discovering mathematics with the world’s best virtual manipulatives.

As you can see, there are many virtual manipulatives to explore on Polypad. Some of the most common ones to use in 6th through 8th grade include:

Visit Polypad to get started exploring and creating. Create a free teacher account to save canvasses and use them with your students. Students can create free accounts, too! Learn about all the teacher tools at the tutorial page.

Learn about Polypad

Visit the Tutorials and Webinars page to view Polypad User Guides, webinar recordings, and tutorial videos. You’ll find detailed explanations about using all the tiles and tools on Polypad, tutorial videos about using the built in teacher tools (creating classes, adding students, sharing Polypads, and more), webinar recordings about using Polypad to explore a variety of mathematical topics, and links to sign up for future events.

Only have time for one quick video? Start here.

Lesson Plans, Teaching Ideas, Games and Puzzles

Visit the Lesson Plans page to explore hundreds of tasks to use with students. Scroll down the page to browse topics alphabetically, filter by task type on the left, or search by topic or keyword. Below are some tasks to consider using with 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students:

Geometry

• Building Original Tangram Challenges
• Exploring the Pythagorean Theorem
• Nets of a Cube
• Visual Patterns

Numbers and Arithmetic

• Factors of Numbers in 3 Ways
• Egyptian Fractions
• A variety of fraction lesson plans and teaching ideas.
• Integer Addition with Algebra Tiles

Probability

• Flipping 3 Coins
• Compound Probabilities
• Multiplying Probabilities
• Ace in the Hole

Algebraic Thinking

• Balance Scale Puzzles
• Completing the Square
• Open Box Problem
• Overlapping Hands of a Clock

Data and Statistics

• Fix this Chart
• Land Area and Water Area in US States
• Exploring the Mean of a Data Set
• Perceptions of Likeliness with Box and Whisker Charts
• Measures of Central Tendency

Puzzles, Games and Mathematical Art

• Genius Square and Genius Star
• Puzzle of the Day
• String Art
• Tessellations and Fractals

Multiplication by Heart

Multiplication by Heart flashcards use the principle of spaced repetition to help students learn multiplication facts. Made in partnership with Dan Finkel at Math for Love, each multiplication fact is presented with a concrete visual representation. Create a Mathigon class and track student progress.

View this tutorial video to learn more and visit the Multiplication by Heart section on the FAQ page if you have questions.

Activities

Mathigon has a variety of other activities for exploring mathematics.

Factris

When playing Factris, students use their knowledge of factors of whole numbers to earn high scores and eliminate as many whole rows as possible.

Tangrams

While Tangrams are one of the many virtual manipulatives on Polypad, Students can also visit the custom Tangram Activity to use tangrams to create a wide variety of pictures.

Timeline of Mathematics

Students can learn about mathematicians and mathematical artifacts on the Timeline of Mathematics.

Puzzle Calendar

Since 2017, Mathigon has published a puzzle calendar during the month December. The “easy” and “1-star” puzzles are appropriate to use with 6th through 8th graders.

Social Distancing Puzzle

In the Social Distancing puzzle, students must move the other shoppers around the store to make it to the exit.

Interactive Courses

The video below provides an overview of the interactive nature of the Mathigon Courses. Some of the animations in the Middle School course might help middle school students understand important mathematical concepts and ideas. The High School courses include some more-advanced content that can be used by students looking for enrichment and additional challenges in math class.

Sharing and Support

As you use Mathigon in your work, please share your ideas and your students’ work across our social media channels: Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. We love seeing what users around the world come up with!

Post questions or suggestions on our social media channels, our Community Form, or email support@mathigon.org.