It's Alive and Kicking: Math the Way it Ought to Be—Tough, Fun, and a Little Weird [Paperback]

Marya Washington Tyler (Author), Asa Kleiman (Author), David Washington (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1882664302 | ISBN-13: 978-1882664306 | Publication Date: June 1, 1996

The authors, junior high students and best friends David and Asa, along with best-selling author Marya Washington Tyler, took the kind of gooey, slimy, disgusting science facts that students love and turned them into hilarious math problems.

Your students will enjoy trying to determine what percent of the refrigerators in the U.S. contain moldy food.

When's the last time you had your students figure the weight of cow manure produced in the U.S.?

How many 8-ounce coffee mugs will an average person's sweat fill?

What is the number of saliva droplets expelled in one class period?

Your students won't mind math when they get to figure the cost of a meal at the Aftermath Restaurant, with foods like Deep Fried Lint, Pseudo-Chicken Parts, Wax Fruit Bowl, and Hot Sludge Sundae. Even the answer key is hilarious.

These and other intriguing problems await your students in this book designed to teach children to translate statements and questions into mathematical equations. All of the problems are based on known scientific facts.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Asa and David are two computer geeks who are hopeless misfits and have no lives whatsoever. After doing this book, you will come to see why. Asa Kleiman has gone completely insane, but hides it relatively well. David Washington is normal in comparison, which doesn't count for much. He admits he can be extremely annoying, but he denies the frog incident entirely.

Marya Washington Tyler holds a master's degree in gifted education from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a multidisciplinary bachelor's degree from Michigan State University. She has four gifted children, and has taught gifted students in Michigan, Wisconsin, Idaho, Alaska, and Washington over a period of 20 years.

Near the beginning of her teaching career, when the NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) began calling for real world mathematics in the curriculum, Marya looked for such materials, but found only feeble efforts. Her neighbors in Marshfield, Wisconsin, willingly shared with her the math puzzles they regularly face as farmers, administrators, firemen, veterinarians, archeologists, detectives, etc., and their words became her first book, Real Life Math Mysteries. Marya then tapped the humor and insight of son David, and his friend Asa, both gifted elementary students, to write It s Alive! and It s Alive and Kicking!, books which restore the warm tingle of life to even the driest mathematical computation. Within a year, Marya joined two more friends to produce Alien Math, a self-guided tour of number bases (as they are used around the galaxy).

Marya continues to lead the movement to enliven the study of mathematics with the odd, the incredible, the wild and the real. She and husband Kip collaborated on Extreme Math after intense meetings with champion mountain climbers, whitewater kayakers, hang gliders, scuba divers, bronco riders, and adventure racers. Their latest book, More Real Life Math Mysteries, presents photos and as-real-as-it-gets math problems, as explained by the dog mushers, elephant trainers, kayak guides, beekeepers, float plane pilots and more.

Product Details

• Paperback: 60 pages
• Publisher: Prufrock Press (June 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1882664302
• ISBN-13: 978-1882664306
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #683,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Marya Washington Tyler has a masters degree in gifted and talented education from the University of Wisconsin, and has taught gifted and talented students for 15 years.

"Many times the students I teach are smarter than I am. I enjoy their brilliance. I also enjoy bringing out gifts in children whose talents and gifts are less readily accessible."

Marya is the author of several Prufrock bestsellers, including Real Life Math Mysteries, It's Alive!!!, and Extreme Math, which she co-wrote with her husband Kip. They have four wonderful, spontaneous, gifted children scattered across the country.

Marya and Kip live in Ketchikan, Alaska, where they kayak, mountain climb, snowshoe, beach comb and otherwise explore, photographing and videotaping the wonders of the Alexander Archipelago and Tongass rainforest around them. Marya's most recent work is On the Job Math Mysteries, which features the mathematics faced by real Alaskans: dog mushers, float plane pilots, Native carvers, sea kayak guides, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars very good, March 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: It's Alive and Kicking: Math the Way it Ought to Be—Tough, Fun, and a Little Weird (Paperback)

This book contains many tough word problems and manages to make them fun by turning them into discoveries about Asa and David, the two authors. Some will gross you out; others will stummp you.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Teachers: Make it into a CONTEST!, July 1, 2007

By 

Mary L. Oreilly "Pemdas5x5" (Chatham, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: It's Alive and Kicking: Math the Way it Ought to Be—Tough, Fun, and a Little Weird (Paperback)

I used this book and it's sister, It's Alive, as the basis for a 3 day contest for my sixth graders in math. Each day, I paired the students randomly. Three points were given for a correct answer and label on the first try, 2 points for a second try, and 1 point for getting the correct answer after a hint from me.The pair that received the most points, won a blue excellence ribbon which they wore for the rest of the day. The competetion was fierce. My students never worked this hard for a grade. They loved the disgusting math facts about germs, tape worms, sneezes, etc. I worked with 2 other teachers so that 13 math classes a day were involved in the contest. This means 26 ribbons a day for 3 days. There were very few duplicate students from day to day so everyone felt they still had a chance to win a ribbon. Some questions were quite easy and some very, very difficult and tricky. I can't wait to use these 2 books again next year.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, Gross, and Motivating Math at various levels, March 3, 2008

By 

M. A. Jameson "an Amazon fan" (CT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: It's Alive and Kicking: Math the Way it Ought to Be—Tough, Fun, and a Little Weird (Paperback)

Ok...what can you say, the questions in here are downright gross! However, the students LOVE solving them. While many are lower level (below 7th grade), the basic applications are there that are appropriate to middle school.

My students love these and they make good starter or exit questions.