Teaching and Learning of Secondary School Mathematics

Maths Songs, Videos and Games for Secondary School Maths

This is a repository of some interesting maths songs, videos and games to help students learn some maths concepts, clarify some misconceptions in maths, find out some real-life applications, remember some maths formulae, practise some maths skills, or just for fun! A few of these resources are actually for primary school students, but they can be used in Sec 1 as a recap. Click here to go to my Home page.

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Section A: Maths Songs

Polygon Song: This is a catchy song for students to learn the names of polygons from pentagon to decagon. Don't miss out the interesting 'cosmetic surgery' just after nonagon and before decagon. Click here for the YouTube link. If the link is no longer available, right click here and 'save target as' to download.
Mean, Median and Mode Song: This is another catchy song for students to learn the three averages. Click here for the YouTube link. If the link is no longer available, right click here and 'save target as' to download.
Quadratic Formula Song: This is a song to help students remember the quadratic formula. Right click here and 'save target as' to download.
Calculus Song: This song is called 'I will derive', which is a parody of the song 'I will survive'. Students will probably understand this song better after they have learnt kinematics involving calculus. The teacher can also ask the students to find the mistake in the question in the test paper (at around 0:14-0:16). Click here for the YouTube link. If the link is no longer available, right click here and 'save target as' to download.
Mathematical Pi Song: This is a song about the discovery and the importance of p. The teacher can ask students some questions about p based on the lyrics. The song is a parody of the song 'The American Pie'. The original lyrics and song can be found in the link here, but it contains an unsuitable word for students. Fortunately, someone has censored that word in another version in this YouTube link. If the link is no longer available, right click here and 'save target as' to download.
Map Scales: To introduce students to map reading and map scales, the teacher can start by using real maps of countries. This song 'The Nations of the World' is a compilation of the names of all the countries in the world, except for one country called Singapore, which is the site for this Webpage. Right click here and 'save target as' to download.

Section B: Maths Videos

25 divided by 5 is 14?: This funny video shows three ridiculous 'proofs' that 25 divided by 5 is 14. The teacher can get the students to explain why these 'proofs' are wrong. The first 'proof' involving division is not easy, so the teacher may want to start with the other two proofs involving multiplication and addition. The common theme among the three 'proofs' is a misconception in the place value system, thus showing the importance of place value. This video can be used for primary school students or Sec 1 (Grade 7) students to check their understanding. Click here for the YouTube link. If the link is no longer available, right click here and 'save target as' to download.
Ratio: This funny video is about a woman going on three dates. The first two dates turn out to be bad dates because her date either talks too much or too little. The video counts the number of words spoken by the woman and her date, then expresses it as a ratio and simplifies. Look out for the twist in her third date. This video can be used for primary school students or Sec 1 (Grade 7) students to recap on ratio. Click here for the link.
Probability: What is the chance that your house, that has been destroyed by a twister, will return to its original state after the twister is gone? This is a funny video produced by an insurance company, but it can be used in the classroom to introduce probability. Click here for the YouTube link. If the link is no longer available, right click here and 'save target as' to download. (Caveat: I am not related to the insurance company and I am not promoting their product, but thanks for their creative video.)
Burger Magic Trick: This video can be used to illustrate the difference between 2D and 3D. The magician performs a magic trick to take out a 3D burger from a 2D picture of the burger. Click here for the YouTube link. If the link is no longer available, right click here and 'save target as' to download. If you are interested to find out how the magic trick works, click here for the YouTube link. If this link is no longer available, right click here and 'save target as' to download.
Volume of Pyramid: Conducting the actual demonstration of pouring water from a pyramid to a related prism, in order to develop the formula for finding the volume of a pyramid, can be troublesome. This authentic video shows the actual experiment being done by some student teachers with all their interesting expressions, which can be used in the classroom for the students. Right click here (about 47 MB) and 'save target as' to download.
Surface Area of Sphere: This demonstration of winding a string around a sphere, in order to develop the formula for finding the volume of a sphere, is almost impossible to conduct in the classroom. Thanks to this video, you don't even have to do it yourself. This video also includes developing the formula for finding the curved surface area of a cylinder, which is needed to find the formula for the volume of a sphere. Right click here (about 55 MB) and 'save target as' to download.
Real-life Application of Similar Triangles: This video shows a real-life application of similar triangles in hospitals in the treatment of cancer patient. Right click here and 'save target as' to download.
Real-life Example of Vectors: This video shows how a honeybee is able to communicate to other honeybees the distance and the direction of a new source of nectar that it has found. It can be used to illustrate how vectors are important in real life: the other honeybees need both the distance and the direction to find the new source of nectar. Click here for the YouTube link. If the link is no longer available, right click here (about 115 MB) and 'save target as' to download.
Indices and Standard Form: This video Powers of Ten^TM (1977) shows a couple having a picnic in a park, then zooms out slowly until our galaxy from 10²⁴ metres (or 100 million light years) away. The video then zooms in slowly back to the Earth, then to a cell on the hand of the man and finally inside the nucleus of an atom at 10^-16 metres. Click here for the YouTube link. If the link is no longer available, right click here (about 30 MB) and 'save target as' to download.
Compound Interest: This is a self-made video that introduces the idea of compound interest based on the story of a loan shark. Right click here (about 33 MB) and 'save target as' to download.

Section C: Maths Games

Flash Mind Reader: The teacher can start by pretending to be a psychic who wants to read all his/her students' mind at the same time. Then click on the Flash Mind Reader and get the students to do what is written there. Finally, pretend to read their mind and describe the symbol, before clicking on the virtual crystal ball, which will show the correct symbol that all the students will get. Ask them whether they believe that you are a psychic and challenge them to expose your trick. When you click 'Try again' to show them the question, the answer will be a different symbol from the previous one. This activity can be used to introduce word problems in algebra. Click here for the link. If the link is no longer available, right click here and 'save target as' to download. This is a swf file, so use any Web browser to open.
Factorisation: This is a shooting game designed by some secondary school students for a mini maths project. It is used to test students' understanding after they have learnt factorisation. First, you need to shoot at all the wrong answers until they explode. Because your gun is only a Level 1 Gun, it will take a long time to explode each answer. Secondly, you need to collect the coin that drops from the exploded answer by using the arrow keys to move the container left or right. You need the coins to buy ammunition and to upgrade your gun. Thirdly, before you upgrade your gun, make sure you have enough money left to buy more ammunition, or else when you run out of ammunition, that's the end. Right click here and 'save target as' to download. This is a swf file, so use any Web browser to open. The designers' names are in the filename.
Length of Line Segment: This is a shooting game designed to test students' understanding after they have learnt how to find the length of a line segment or the distance between two points. The user has 10 shots to shoot down 8 enemy targets based on the distance on a square grid. If the user misses the target, it will provide a hint. Right click here and 'save target as' to download. It is designed using PowerPoint. The designers' names are in the filename.
Graphs of Functions: This is a game to test students' understanding after they have learnt graphs of linear, quadratic, cubic, reciprocal, inverse squared, and exponential functions. It is about helping a hiker to cross from one place to another by creating a route using these graphs. Now what happens if there are asymptotes? Play the game to find out yourself. There are some links on the first page to skip to other graphs. Right click here (about 25 MB) and 'save target as' to download. It is designed using PowerPoint. The designers' names are in the filename.

If you have any queries or if you have found that some of the links are no longer available, please email Joseph Yeo. Click here to go to my Home page.

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