Month: September 2019

One of the best ways we can help our children learn mathematics (or anything else) is to always be learning ourselves.

Here are a few stories to read with your Monday morning coffee:

• Keith Devlin discusses the importance of struggle to learning: On making omelets and learning math, with a follow-up post Why straight A’s may indicate poor learning — report from an unusual study.

• Kathy Iwanicki’s students explore an unsolved math puzzle: the Hailstone Sequence. I think my co-op class might enjoy this activity, too.

• If you want to understand how number concepts develop through the school years, Graham Fletcher’s Progression Videos are a great place to start. Watch, re-watch, and learn.

• Clothesline math is a wonderful hands-on way for students to build number sense. And it’s not just for little kids! Check out Chris Luzniak’s unit circle clothesline project (and calculus, too).

• Can applied math change the world? People can now move wheelchairs, control robots, and type using a portable wireless brain-machine interface. Wow!

“Learning occurs when we get something wrong and have to correct it. This is analogous to the much better known fact that when we subject our bodies to physical strain, say by walking, jogging, or lifting weights, the muscles we strain become stronger — we gain greater fitness.
…
“Indeed, the learning is better if the correction occurs some time after the error is made. Stewing for a while in frustration at being wrong, and not seeing how to fix it, turns out to be a good thing. Cracking your ego is an unavoidable part of learning.”

—Keith Devlin
On making omelets and learning math

CREDITS: Feature photo (top) by Kira auf der Heide via Unsplash. “Morning Coffee” post format inspired by Nate Hoffelder at The Digital Reader.

One of the best ways we can help our children learn mathematics (or anything else) is to always be learning ourselves.

Here are a few stories to read with your Friday morning coffee:

• Don’t miss Playful Math Carnival 131. So much mathy goodness!

• Do you have early learners? Christina Tondevold explains the building blocks of Number Sense for Pre-K to 2nd grade children.

• Joe Schwartz ponders the importance of asking “too many” questions, both for the 1960s space race and for children learning math.

• Do you like your math spiced with humor? Ben Orlin tackles the perennial question, Why Isn’t 1 a Prime Number?

• If it’s time to teach your kids about the order of operations, consider using David Butler’s graphic version The Operation Tower. But don’t let yourself be drawn into those “gotcha!” memes on social media. As Dave Peterson points out (using trig functions), Order of Operations flows from basic common sense. If you need parentheses to make your meaning clear, then use them.

“What do we need to know in order to accomplish the goal? Well, start asking questions. And remember, one unasked question could put the entire enterprise in jeopardy…”

—Joe Schwartz
Houston, 1964

“It’s a little weird, isn’t it, that prime means first, and yet the first number isn’t prime?”

—Ben Orlin
Why Isn’t 1 a Prime Number?

CREDITS: Feature photo (top) by Kira auf der Heide via Unsplash. “Morning Coffee” post format inspired by Nate Hoffelder at The Digital Reader.

One of the best ways we can help our children learn mathematics (or anything else) is to always be learning ourselves.

Here are a few stories to read with your Monday morning coffee:

• David Butler invented a challenging new game that can spark plenty of mathematical thinking: Digit Disguises.

• Which led me on a delightful rabbit trail through David’s archives, rediscovering old delights like his Seven Sticks post and The Arts students’ maths brain.

• If you liked James Tanton’s video on the area model in last week’s post, you may enjoy his in-depth discussion of The Astounding Power of Area.

• And a (broken) link on that page sent me along another rabbit trail to find Geri Lorway’s blog. I love her post on multiplication: Teaching division?… Do you know the “basics”?

• On a lighter note, I’m sure any classroom or homeschool teacher can think of several ways to use Sara VanDerWerf’s collection of Math Fails. Scroll down for links to earlier collections, too.

“I told them that actually what they did was exactly what maths is — reasoning things out using the information you have and being able to be sure of your method and your answer. Just because there’s no symbols, it doesn’t mean it’s not maths.”

—David Butler
The Seven Sticks and what mathematics is

 

“I am not willing to teach mindless math. It leads to mindless adults. Thinking is not an add-on once they have memorized. Thinking is the basic tool to negotiate the world.”

—Geri Lorway
Teaching division?… Do you know the “basics”?

CREDITS: Feature photo (top) by Kira auf der Heide via Unsplash. “Morning Coffee” post format inspired by Nate Hoffelder at The Digital Reader.

One of the best ways we can help our children learn math (or anything else) is to always be learning ourselves.

Here are a few stories to read with your Thursday morning coffee:

• Paul Goldenberg and Al Cuoco explain why sometimes the most important thing for teachers to know is what NOT to teach (or when to just plain shut up).

• Beth Curran shares one quick way to adapt a traditional-textbook lesson so you can engage your students in meaningful discourse and deepen their understanding of math.

• John Rowe’s What I’ve Learnt From 5 Years In The Job offers five great tips for new teachers — or for homeschoolers wondering how to teach math to their kids.

• Kris Boulton examines Why Maths Teachers Don’t Like Knowledge Organisers.

• James Tanton asks a great question: Can one just use the Area Model willy nilly? I love how the area model helps make sense of multiplying negative numbers!

“Most people think that maths is replete with factual knowledge. But actually, it’s subjects like English, the Humanities, and some sciences that are hefty in factual content. Maths is super-dense with concepts, and processes, but really only very few facts.”

—Kris Boulton
Why Maths Teachers Don’t Like Knowledge Organisers

CREDITS: Feature photo (top) by Kira auf der Heide via Unsplash. “Morning Coffee” post format inspired by Nate Hoffelder at The Digital Reader.

One of the best ways to help our children learn math (or anything else) is to always be learning ourselves.

Here are a few stories to read with your Tuesday morning coffee:

• Dan Finkel examines What we mean when we say “Anyone can do math”.

• David Wees discusses ways to use visual patterns to introduce and extend students’ understanding of algebra and functions.

• Joseph Nebus has launched his Fall 2019 Mathematics A-to-Z series, putting math into words for curious non-mathematician to enjoy.

• Sam Shah shares pictures of Our new “Math Space” — with links to many interesting puzzles and resources.

• Peter Krautzberger hosts the September Carnival of Math No. 173 with plenty of interesting links. [And if you’re a blogger, click here to submit your post for this month’s Playful Math Education carnival.]

“What we should all be shooting for is a world where everyone is mathematically literate, and where fear or anxiety around mathematics doesn’t prevent people from doing the things they dream of doing. Everyone should see some beautiful mathematical ideas and know what it feels like.”

—Dan Finkel
What we mean when we say “Anyone can do math”

CREDITS: Feature photo (top) by Kira auf der Heide via Unsplash. “Morning Coffee” post format inspired by Nate Hoffelder at The Digital Reader.