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 morning coffee this week…
- Sara VanDerWerf serves up a hearty feast in her post What is Math? What do Mathematicians do? And there’s a quick video, if you don’t have time for the full meal.
“We are all mathematicians. We all have the power to notice, describe, and generalize patterns. You have all had this ability since birth. If we believe this then every day we must plan lessons that allow students to act as mathematicians. We must put something in front of our students to notice. We must put something in front of our students to describe, to generalize.”
—Sara VanDerWerf
What is Math? What do Mathematicians do?
- Della shares some of her favorite resources and activity ideas in Making Math Fun. It’s a great way to practice what Sara was preaching above.
- David Butler points out how easily we fail to respect one another in Twitter and how not to treat my students. Been there, done that, trying to do better.
- Tom Hobson reminds us that The Freedom to Think is the Most Fundamental Freedom, even for the very young.
- Mark Chubb explains how strategy games build a foundation for mathematical thinking — and shares six great folk games from around the world.
“If we are truly interested in starting a year off successfully, then we need to spend time allowing our students to see themselves in the math they are doing… and to see their strengths, not their deficits.”
—Mark Chubb
Math Games – building a foundation for mathematical reasoning
CREDITS: “Warm mug” photo 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 