Math Ed Said
June 10: With one of the most purely geeky things to appear in TWiME, a number of people shared "41 triple pendulums with very slightly different initial conditions." In animated GIF form, no less.Shared by: Dan Anderson, michiexile, Evelyn Lamb, Kent Haines, Josh Fisher, Jed Butler, Eddi Vulić, Amie Albrecht
June 11: This year-old NYT post got passed around last Saturday: "The Problem With Math Problems: We're Solving Them Wrong." It includes advice from Tracy Zager and Steven Strogatz.
Shared by: Earl Samuelson, Susan Davidson, OCTM, Steve Phelps, Bridget Soumeillan, Robert Cop
June 12: Following the shooting in Orlando, a number of people on my MathEd Twitter list were sharing the Vox post, "Mass shootings since Sandy Hook, in one map."
Shared by: Matthew Haden, Justin Leroux, Karen King, Ματτ, Chi Klein
June 13: Andrew Stadel created and shared a Desmos activity called, "Visual Patterns Tribute," inspired by Fawn Nguyen's http://www.visualpatterns.org/.
Shared by: Andrew Stadel, Imtiaz Damji, Ed Campos Jr, Bridget Dunbar, Andrew Gael, Sara VanDerWerf, Shauna Hedgepeth, Jennifer Lawler, MathDDSB, Desmos.com, Greg George
June 14: The first mention of Hacker's Math Myth was on February 7 and I've lost track of how many times this topic has resurfaced in TWiME. This time, it's A.K. Whitney's "Why Andrew Hacker Is Wrong About 'The Math Myth'" in The Atlantic. Whitney concludes by saying, "I fear this debate will just rage for another 100 years," which is what I'm feeling, too.
Shared by: Dave Richeson, Matthew Oldridge, Kasi C. Allen, James Tanton, AMATYC, Nathaniel Highstein, Denise Gaskins, Brian Marks, Annie Forest, Genni Steele, April Pforts, Steph Gunning, Rebecca Afghani
June 15: "Numbers are just empty vessels into which we pour our meanings, and they always overflow," says Ben Orlin in "50 Killed, or 49?."
Shared by: Ilona Vashchyshyn, Meg Craig, Ben Orlin, James Cleveland, Anne Schwartz, Andy Shores, Jonathan Edmonds
June 16: Dan Meyer wrote "Your GPS Is Making You Dumber, and What That Means for Teaching," which spurred resharing on Twitter and a lot of comments on the post itself. My amazement: All this talk of two approaches to learning math and a navigation metaphor and not a mention of Skemp's analogy to be found.
Bonus read: Mattie B's "Saying something."
Shared by: Nancy Terry, Dan Meyer, Bridget Dunbar, Mark Chubb, Greg George, Taylor Belcher, Pamela Rawson, Andy Shores, Julie Reulbach, Jim Wysocki
Around the Math Ed Web
It turns out there wasn't a Global Math Department talk last week, but Sara Van Der Werf is scheduled to talk about "The Pursuit of 100% Engagement: Practical ideas to get you closer" on Tuesday the 21st.We're still waiting to hear about NCTM Research Conference proposals, but you can submit for RUME until August 19 (or December 2 for posters).
Research Notes
It was an unusually slow week on the research front, but here's an article about Common Core and developing instructional capacity that just appeared in AERA Open:- From the Inside In by Jonathan Supovitz, Ryan Fink, and Bobbi Newman, University of Pennsylvania
Math Ed in the News
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| Deborah Ball at the 2015 NCTM Annual Meeting |
- University of Michigan education school dean stepping down, will stay at U-M
- How High-Interest Examples of Math Prime Student Curiosity (KQED News)
- Elementary school teachers struggle with Common Core math standards (The Hechinger Report)
- Debate over whether all undergraduates should take mathematics course (Inside Higher Ed)
- Don't change N.C.'s math curriculum (The Charlotte Observer)
Math Ed in Colorado
I'm off to do three days of workshops with math teachers and will have more to share about that in the days, weeks, and months to come. In the meantime, a lot of schools are looking to hire math teachers:- Arapahoe High School in Littleton needs a long-term math substitute.
- A secondary math instructional coach is needed at Prairie Heights Middle School in Greeley. Email Vida Trevino (VTREVINO@greeleyschools.org) for more information, or go here to apply.
- Platte Canyon in Bailey needs someone to teach Algebra 1 through Precalculus. Apply at www.plattecanyonschools.org.
- Work and play in the Vail Valley, and teach high school math Eagle County