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.
Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math 