Our Tax Dollars at Work

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Well, the new year has come, and it’s time to start gathering up receipts and thinking about tax forms.

Would you like to know that our tax dollars are doing good in the world? The National Science Foundation has spent many millions developing and promoting “reform” math textbooks, with encouragement from the U.S. Department of Education. Surely our public schools will now rise out of the doldrums and surge ahead in mathematical achievement, right?

Try for yourself this problem from one of the more famous/infamous of the reform math textbooks:

Can you find the slope and y-intercept of this equation?

10 = x – 2.5

And then check out this editorial[editorial has disappeared] at edspresso.com. You’ll be amazed at the answer!

Update: Checking on back-links, I discovered that this page had gone AWOL, so I’ll give you the “answer” from the teacher’s manual. The “slope” is 1 and the “y-intercept” is -2.5, according to Connected Math. Unfortunately, this equation actually describes a vertical line (undefined slope) at x=12.5 (never touches the y-axis).

Doesn’t bode well for “CMP helps students and teachers develop understanding of important mathematical concepts…”

Set Daily Puzzle

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

The spring semester of homeschool co-op classes starts tomorrow, and I still have a couple of handouts to prepare and several pages of notes to go over in preparation. So naturally, I find myself flitting from here to there on my computer, browsing new links and cleaning out the old.

As the saying goes:

“I used to be an amateur crastinator, but now I’ve turned pro.”

In a dusty pile of long-neglected bookmarks, I rediscovered this treasure:

Set Daily Puzzle

I love this game!

Why Study Mathematics?

Posted on by Denise Gaskins
by d3 Dan via flickr

[Rescued from my old blog.]

What teacher hasn’t heard a student complain, “When am I ever going to have to use this?” Didn’t most of us ask it ourselves, once upon a time? And unless we choose a math-intensive career like engineering, the truth is that after we leave school, most of us will never again use most of the math we learned. But if math beyond arithmetic isn’t all that useful, then what’s the point?

If you or your student is singing the Higher Math Blues, here are some quotations that may cheer you up — or at least give you the strength of vision to keep on slogging.

We study mathematics…

Continue reading Why Study Mathematics?

Fraction Division — A Poem

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Rescued from my old blog.]

Division of fractions is surely one of the most difficult topic in elementary arithmetic. Very few students (or teachers) actually understand how and why it works. Most of us get by with memorized rules, such as:

Ours is not to reason why;
just invert and multiply!

Continue reading Fraction Division — A Poem

The Game That Is Worth 1,000 Worksheets

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

Have you and your children been struggling to learn the math facts? The game of Math Card War is worth more than a thousand math drill worksheets, letting you build your children’s calculating speed in a no-stress, no-test way.

Math concepts: greater-than/less-than, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, negative numbers, absolute value, and multi-step problem solving.

Continue reading The Game That Is Worth 1,000 Worksheets

The “Aha!” Factor

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Rescued from my old blog.]

For young children, mathematical concepts are part of life’s daily adventure. A toddler’s mind grapples with understanding the threeness of three blocks or three fingers or one raisin plus two more raisins make three.

Most children enter school with a natural feel for mathematical ideas. They can count out forks and knives for the table, matching sets of silverware with the resident set of people. They know how to split up the last bit of birthday cake and make sure they get their fair share, even if they have to cut halves or thirds. They enjoy drawing circles and triangles, and they delight in scooping up volumes in the sandbox or bathtub.

Continue reading The “Aha!” Factor

Math Quotes V: A Man Is Like a Fraction…

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Rescued from my old blog.]

The blackboard quotes for my math class have been a bit more philosophical the last few weeks:

A good problem should be more than a mere exercise; it should be challenging and not too easily solved by the student, and it should require some “dreaming” time.

—Howard Eves
An Introduction to the History of Mathematics

Continue reading Math Quotes V: A Man Is Like a Fraction…

Math Quotes III: Five out of Four People

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Rescued from my old blog.]

I’ve been procrastinating my preparations for co-op classes this week, but I think I’m ready. I almost forgot the scissors, but now I have them in my bag, so we will be able to cut the “infinite pizza” pieces. And I have two fun quotes for the blackboard:

Continue reading Math Quotes III: Five out of Four People

Math Quotes II: The Ultimate Goal of Mathematics

Posted on by Denise Gaskins

[Rescued from my old blog.]

I thought you might enjoy the quote I’m going to use on the blackboard in math class:

The clearer the teacher makes it, the worse it is for you. You must work things out for yourself and make the ideas your own.

—William F. Osgood, quoted in
Out of the Mouths of Mathematicians
by Rosemary Schmalz

Continue reading Math Quotes II: The Ultimate Goal of Mathematics