Math Educators!

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Comment by Ryan Goble on January 15, 2010 at 3:17pm

Does anyone know if there is a BIG math Ning?

English Teachers have two big ones (NCTE & English Companion), and NCSS (Social Studies) is getting larger but I'm not seeing a key math/science teacher Ning? I found these...

Middle School Portal to Math & Science Pathways (about 600 teachers) and

Mathematics 24X7 but that's more for "Mathematics Enthusiasts"

Any other Nings we should know about?

Comment by Robert Zenhausern on December 24, 2009 at 5:06pm

What interests me more in that NY Times article is that the brain is not ready to process letter to sound comversion until age 11. That means we are teaching phonics too early and math too late.

Comment by Nicola Vitale on December 24, 2009 at 11:10am

interesting...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/health/research/21brain.html?page...

Comment by Michael Paul Goldenberg on December 19, 2009 at 11:01am

Robert, we're probably not losing many mathematicians, but we're losing millions of mathematically literate citizens and perpetuating a huge underclass of innumerate people. Unsurprisingly, the majority of those come from ethnic minorities, the poor, and other traditionally under-served groups. Coincidence? I very much doubt it.

The politics of mathematics education and the Math Wars has always been about defending an elitist, racist, sexist, classist status quo against threats from progressive reformers and their notions of equity, fairness, diversity, and democracy. Don't be fooled by the rhetoric of "dumbing down," etc. It's a smokescreen.

Comment by Robert Zenhausern on December 19, 2009 at 10:42am

The term "math disability" has been thrown around since the start of the Cold War and the dire predictions about how the US is behind the Russians. And lately, how we are falling behind other nations in the world. My first reaction is that we are comparing the average of a country with a goal of universal education with countries that practice elite education. My second reaction is the Cold War is over and the US is still the leader in innovation.

The most important point, however, is that "math disabiilty" is a misnomer. What we are really talking about is arithmetic disability. In the 19th century computation skills were essential and the basis of higher math. In the 20th century we developed computer and calculators and spreadsheets that automated computation. In the 21sth century we are still using the 19th century mentality.

I am not saying we should give up computation skills, but they should not be the basis of higher mathematics. Suppose a pre-k child is taught to use a spreadsheet to do arithmetic. With arithmetic invisible, we can move on to higher math. We spend 4 years in school to get to the point that children can learn long division. This could be covered by the first grade.

How many mathematicians are we losing because they cannot do arithmetic?

Comment by Ryan Goble on October 26, 2009 at 8:15am

Hey everyone, I thought I'd start a Math Teaching blog roll up top - do any of you have some great Math Teaching Blogs you think we should add to the mix? Please let me know (you can just post comments here) and I'll add them above!!!

Comment by Ryan Goble on September 16, 2009 at 9:57am

Follow up on yesterday's Mr. Duey post - Mr. Duey is now in the MC POP mix! If you like his stuff or want to know more about this work send him a shout out via the Ning! Great to have you here Mr. D!

Comment by Ryan Goble on September 10, 2009 at 5:11pm

Howdy Math Folks, there is a post in the Econ group with a Fair Trade curriculum you might be interesed in - see post here.

Comment by Ryan Goble on September 8, 2009 at 10:34am

Hey math people, I have a quick question ... so when you have a square/rectangle divided into 4 you have four quadrants. When you have a square/rectangle divided into 6 squares you have hexa...rants?

Is there a real name for this? Google would not feed me enough knowledge :)

Any help would be appreciated...

Comment by Ryan Goble on September 3, 2009 at 3:04pm

Hey folks,

If you haven't joined the fledgling "Gaming Group" you might want to check it out. Today there was an, I think, "essential," article about Quest To Learn - a new video game based school in NYC. Frank Baker hipped me to the article.

Note: It is from the British version of The Economist so you'll read about "maths" and other such linguistic curiosities :)

An excerpt...

Periods of maths, science, history and so on are no more. Quest to Learn’s school day will, rather, be divided into four 90-minute blocks devoted to the study of “domains”. Such domains include Codeworlds (a combination of mathematics and English), Being, Space and Place (English and social studies), The Way Things Work (maths and science) and Sports for the Mind (game design and digital literacy). Each domain concludes with a two-week examination called a “Boss Level”—a common phrase in video-game parlance.
In one of the units of Being, Space and Place, for example, pupils take on the role of an ancient Spartan who has to assess Athenian strengths and recommend a course of action. In doing so, they learn bits of history, geography and public policy. In a unit of The Way Things Work, they try to inhabit the minds of scientists devising a pathway for a beam of light to reach a target. This lesson touches on maths, optics—and, the organisers hope, creative thinking and teamwork. Another Way-Things-Work unit asks pupils to imagine they are pyramid-builders in ancient Egypt. This means learning about maths and engineering, and something about the country’s religion and geography.

Full post here - I would love to hear what folks think about this school concept.

BTW - For the record - I'm awful at video games - even Pac-Man.

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