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Poll: Where Do You Buy Books?

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Thanks to our insolvent state government, I need to go back and change all my book links. I never made much from the Amazon affiliate program, but it usually managed to cover Kitten’s school books. Oh, well, at least they haven’t closed the public libraries … yet …

Since I’m changing the old links anyway, I thought I’d give you all a chance to voice your opinions. Shall I continue to reference Amazon.com, or would you rather my book links took you to Barnes & Noble?

P.S.: For my rss subscribers, I apologize for the flood of old posts. Every time I make a change, it seems the feed releases the post anew. I’m afraid this will continue for a few weeks, since I’m using the affiliate mess as an excuse to do other long-neglected blog clean-up tasks as well. With 596 published posts, that will take awhile. I hate housecleaning!

Game: Times Tac Toe

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Photo by jma.work via flickr.

I’ve been working on a book of math games for homeschoolers and other teachers. I hope to get it published later this year, but the editing drags on. Would anybody like to draw the illustrations?

Meanwhile, here’s a 2-player game your students may enjoy…

Set Up

Print out a blank times table chart and place it between the players. Each player will need a colored marker, and the colors must be different enough to be easily distinguished.

Remove the jokers and kings from a deck of poker-style playing cards, but leave the jacks (= 11) and queens (= 12). Shuffle the deck, and place the stack face down as a draw pile.

Continue reading Game: Times Tac Toe

Quotable: Math vs. Writing

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Seen at kitchen table math, the sequel:

I can recall the deep satisfaction I felt on the all-too-rare occasions at school when the concepts or formulas fell into place. It seemed an entirely different discipline from writing, where something arises from a blank page through a combination of hard work and patience, with a sliver of creativity.

With math, the experience is more like discovering something that’s always existed and finally decided to stop playing hard-to-get.

— Ralph Gardner
Making Math Fun (Seriously)

Continue reading Quotable: Math vs. Writing

Still Relevant After All These Years

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

We have an interesting discussion going in the comments on The Problem with Manipulatives. I mentioned a vague memory of a quotation. Now I’ve found the source.

Originally published in 1970:

The continuing hullabaloo about the “new math” has given many a parent a false impression. What was formerly a dull way of teaching mathematics by rote, so goes the myth, has suddenly been replaced by a marvelous new technique that is achieving miraculous results throughout the nation’s public schools.

I wish it were true — even if only to the extent implied by entertainer (and math teacher) Tom Lehrer in his delightfully whimsical recording on “The New Math”:
“In the new approach, as you know, the important thing is to understand what you’re doing, rather than to get the right answer.”

… Indeed, there is something to be said for the old math when taught by a poorly trained teacher. He can, at least, get across the fundamental rules of calculation without too much confusion. The same teacher trying to teach new math is apt to get across nothing at all…

— Martin Gardner
Foreword to Harold Jacobs’ Mathematics: A Human Endeavor

Unfortunately, I can’t embed the Tom Lehrer song Gardner mentioned, due to copyright restrictions, but here’s a link to YouTube:

Support Your Favorite Blog Carnival!

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Photo by kevindooley.]

A math carnival is like “the shop-front of the mathematics blogging world” — a place to browse and enjoy all the wide variety of mathematics on the web. Blog carnival hosts put in several hours of work every month to bring you the riches of the internet.

If you blog about learning or teaching math from pre-school to pre-college, now is the time to send in your contribution for this month’s Math Teachers at Play carnival. We welcome posts from parents, teachers, homeschoolers, and students — anyone who is interested in playing around with school-level or recreational math. Each of us can help others learn, so in a sense we are all teachers.

Support The Carnivals

The math carnivals are a great resource for all of us who enjoy reading and learning about mathematics, and especially for math bloggers who appreciate the wider audience the carnivals provide. But blog carnivals do not happen by themselves — there is a lot of work involved.

Here’s how you can help:

  • Leave a comment to thank and encourage the host.
  • Link to and promote the carnival on your blog or social network.
  • Volunteer to host a future edition at your own blog.
  • How to Host a Blog Carnival

Mike at Walking Randomly has hosted the Carnival of Mathematics two of the last three months, and that’s not good for the long-term health of the carnival. If you’re interested in helping out, check the future hosts tab at the blog carnival page and pick a month that works for you, then email Mike and tell him you’re available.

Similarly, you can check on upcoming editions of the Math Teachers at Play carnival, and let me know if you’d like to host. Or contact Guillermo Bautista to volunteer for Mathematics and Multimedia.

Recent Math Blog Carnivals

Did you miss any of these recent blog carnivals? Delightful mathy browsing is only a click away…

For homeschooling or other educational carnivals, check out the Blog Parties for Teachers widget in my sidebar. Enjoy!

Quotable: Math is a Game

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

I don’t love math nearly as much as I pretend I do when I’m teaching it or blogging about it or trying to enthuse my kids.

I just believe — ever since an eye-opening university-level Mathematics in Perspective course — that math is taught VERY badly, bumbled and fumbled and as a result we have this societal fear of what is, essentially, a great big GAME.

— Jennifer in MamaLand
Spotted (myself!) around the Web…

See related post — Quotations XXV: Math is a Game

MTaP #35: Two New Posts

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

For those of you who read the RSS feed (and thus don’t get to see my changes to old stuff), two of the bloggers featured in MTaP #35 have published follow-up posts:

With those two posts added in, I believe Math Teachers at Play #35 now features exactly 35 posts about fun ways to teach math (not counting the links to the other math blog carnivals). Cool!