Math Me Thinks

A New Way to Google

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Thu, 17 May 2012 02:16:00 +0000

Check out this video!

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:52:00 +0000

Marin County Math Tutor
Credentialed in Mathematics - Pre-School to Adult Education
Highly Qualified as per the 'No Child Left Behind Act'

Catch up in the Summer!

Is your child or teenager:
not doing as well in math as you would have hoped?
struggling with basic concepts?
afraid of math?
falling behind the other students?

Perhaps a few tutoring sessions during the summer will help your child.

The general plan is to meet with your child or teenager, assess the problem and help the family implement a plan to build success in the coming year.

Karen@MathMeThinks.com

Don't Lecture Me! Rethinking the way College Students Learn.

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 23:49:00 +0000

The local public radio station, KQED, aired a great segment this weekend called, Don't lecture me! - Rethinking the way college students learn.

It is an American RadioWorks documentary and well worth the listen (it is about 53 minutes long) for all middle school, high school, and college math teachers.

The instructors interviewed are physics professors, but most of the ideas apply to math instruction too.

Some of the recommendations:

Students read the material before class so are prepared to engage in discussions and ask questions about points of confusion.

Students get designated time to study and solve problems together. (Furthermore, I encourage the formation of study groups outside of class time, especially before exams.)

Geometer's Sketchpad 17-gons

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 06:57:00 +0000

Geometer's Sketchpad - Circle Design

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 05:06:00 +0000

The Man Who Made Fractals Famous Dies at 85

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 00:40:00 +0000

Benoît Mandelbrot obituary
Mathematician whose fractal geometry helps us find patterns in the irregularities of the natural world

By the Numbers

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 07:19:00 +0000

Your students will enjoy these interesting numerical comparisons - data from 2000 and 2010.

http://www.newsweek.com/feature/2010/by-the-numbers-how-the-digital-revolution-changed-our-world.html?gt1=43002

And the Politicians Continue to Blame the Teachers

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:35:00 +0000

Benoit Mandelbrot Speaks at T.E.D.

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:29:00 +0000

The talk is hard to follow, especially for the lay person, but it it great to hear Mandelbrot speak.

Revisting Daniel Pink

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 18:14:00 +0000

I posted Dan Pink's T.E.D. talk about "What Motivates Us'' in a previous post. Here it is again with a great cartoon animation.

Primitive Cultures Develop Sesame Street

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 07:07:00 +0000

xkcd: One Two

Sent by my friend David. Thanks!

Quote of the Day - Grade Inflation

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 06:54:00 +0000

In American schools, grade inflation is so out of control that a B minus is a classroom teacher’s best and safest choice for indicating an actual grade of F.

Earl P. Bell
Letter to the Editor
New York Times
June 27, 2010

Quotes of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 22:03:00 +0000

Some freshmen do not know that “one-half and .5 represent the same number,” said Dennis Piontkowski, chairman of the mathematics department. “We don’t want to keep students in math classes forever, but you can’t just snap your fingers and bring them up to college level.”

and then too...

Students are leaving high school with a diploma, but “most are testing at middle-school reading comprehension” and many at elementary-school level, said James Sauvé, an English department instructor in charge of revising the remediation classes.

The remediation should be addressing 'how to be an effective learner' instead of explaining that .5 = 1/2. If a student had effective learning skills, he/she would have a command of basic skills before entering college.

And students should know that education takes work and failing is an option.

Thank you The Bay Citizen.

Grade Inflation

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 05:55:00 +0000

This is one of the ways grade inflation starts.

Face Memory Game

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 03:59:00 +0000

It was interesting to wander around the Washington.edu site and check out the different memory tests.

I will be using some of the games to help my students learn memorization strategies, specifically for addition and multiplication facts given that surprisingly many high school clients do not know these facts.

My elderly clients often have trouble remembering new facts, especially in regards to new technology. "Why on earth would you click on the Start Up button to turn your computer off?", was one of the comments I heard. There are physical changes that occur in the brain as humans age that make it more difficult for many people to learn new things, so it is not surprising that it takes some practice to learn how to program TIVO.

On the other hand, my teenage clients are able to remember all sorts of facts: phone numbers, how to use the many functions of their graphing calculators and cell phones, how to download and keep track of thousands of songs, and how to manage their social networking pages yet these same students cannot remember the product of 6 and 7. Even more disturbing is the fact that a number of the parents are likely to tell me that their children are incapable of memorizing their math facts rather than admit that their child might be a bit lazy or unmotivated to do the work.

Memorization takes work. And some memorization, such as math facts, may be tedious and unpleasant work. It has been my experience that most of the students lacking math facts are UNWILLING to do that work.

Crazy Things Can Happen When Math gets into the Hands of Legislators

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 03:55:00 +0000

I stumbled upon a blog post by divine caroline that stated that in Indiana

π = 4.

The blogger cited no references.

In my search to find the story, I found a treasure, The Straight Dope by Cecil Adams who may or may not, actually be Ed Zotti.

Cecil tells a great story about how an amateur, and possibly crazy, mathematician, Edward J. Goodwin, persuaded an Indiana Representative, in 1897, to introduce a House Bill #246 that would legislate:

π to be 4,

π = 3.2 in another instance,

and π to be about 3.23 in yet a third instance.

According to Adams, Bill #246 made it through the house.

Bill #246 also passed the Indiana Senate but before it could be enacted into law, a Purdue Professor, C. A. Waldo was able to point out the absurdity the idea to a Senator and Bill #246 was postponed, possibly infinitely, or until the end of time.

Ed Zotti as he appears on his Blog, The Barn House.

Apparently, the legislators didn't know their history as well as their math. Mathematicians had only been working on determining the value of π for roughly 3800 years by the time Goodwin appeared on the scene and decided not only to change the value of π, but its definition too.

Lesson #1 - Education has come a long way since 1897. Almost all of my students know that π is approximately equal to 3.14 and I want to believe it would take a lot of work to convince them otherwise.

Lesson #2 - It is still true today that it is sometimes dangerous to let mathematics and science get into the hands of legislators.

Lesson #3 - Passing and enacting a law have different meanings. Who would have ever thought it? So, even though Bill #246 was passed, in both houses, it was never a law on the books and to this day, people in all walks of life in Indiana are allowed to use π at the common value of 3.14, close enough for many purposes, the 14 digit accuracy of the TI-84, or the 2.7 trillion digit accuracy level determined by Monsieur Bellard of France, January of 2010, using his desktop computer. (Oh by the way, it took 131 days to complete and check the result, if you were thinking of choosing that option).

Do These Images Remind You of M.C. Escher?

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 05:13:00 +0000

These were created before Escher's body of work. They are by Ernst Haeckel. The recursive nature of the illustrations reminds one of fractals.

The drawings are fabulous! See more of them here.

Another Interesting Drawing Site

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 16:17:00 +0000

Check out this web-based drawing program. The options will be at the bottom of the screen.

Revisiting Daniel Tammet

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 16:04:00 +0000

Daniel Tammet is the man who memorized the digits of pi to over 22,000 places. This video tells about his life as a savant. An added bonus is that Kim Peek makes an appearance.

4-Day School Week

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 14:57:00 +0000

I have thought, for a long time, that a 4-day school week would be a great idea. Now, in Georgia, due to budget shortfalls, school districts are trying the idea. The students go to school for the same number of hours annually and they have longer school days. The great part is the 3-day weekend.

The kids love it. The teachers love it. Test scores have risen and attendance has improved. The parents, however, find it very inconvenient. The superintendent of one district makes a great point. She says that the school district is not in the business of providing child care. It has been a side benefit to providing education for the students and it is no longer in the position to provide such a service 5 days a week. It's a good point.

Going Deeper into a Fractal

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Sun, 30 May 2010 03:08:00 +0000

Check out this cool Fractal Video.

Paul Erdös Referred to Children as Epsilons*

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Sat, 08 May 2010 21:13:00 +0000

Radio Lab is a fabulous radio show from WNZC. A program from October 2009 delves into numbers including the origin of Erdös numbers as well as some interesting stories of the idiosyncrasies of the prolific mathematician Paul Erdös, after whom the numbers were named. It is definitely worth a listen.

From Benford to Erdös

*The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, Paul Hoffman, Hyperion Press, 1998

The Amazing Power of Two!

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Sat, 08 May 2010 16:18:00 +0000

This is a fun trick that kids can easily learn and wow their friends. It works because the chosen cards are in relative power of two positions guaranteeing that they will always land in the down position.

What math class? I dunno.

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Thu, 06 May 2010 01:38:00 +0000

A recurring experience:

Question: "You are in the 10th grade? So, are you taking Geometry?"

Answer: "Yeah. I think. I don't know."

Question: "Could it be Algebra perhaps?"

Answer: "Yeah, I think that is it."

This actually happened, AGAIN, today when I was in town. It is mind boggling to imagine how a high school student is expected to do well in math when he/she doesn't even know what class they are enrolled in.

California: Algebra for all Eighth Graders

noreply@blogger.com (MathChique) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:38:00 +0000

As often occurs, California policy makers have gotten it wrong.

Research has shown that students who successfully pass Algebra in middle school are more likely to enter higher education. Algebra has been labeled a "gate keeper" to higher education. Apparently, success in Algebra in the 8th grade, rather than later, is the number one indicator of whether a student will proceed to college. So, what is wrong the policy that requires all 8th grade students to take algebra? In quaint terms, this policy places the cart before the horse.

The reason a student is successful and passes algebra, no matter the age of the student, is that the he/she has a fluent understanding of some basic math concepts that support taking algebra. In other words, it isn't that the student takes algebra in the 8th grade... the success of the student depends on the fact that he/she is READY to take algebra in the eighth grade.

There are districts in California that have a "no fail" policy, also called "social promotion", in elementary school. In other words, whether or not a student understands essential curriculum, he/she is promoted to the next course until, voilà, the student arrives in an 8th grade algebra class without knowing:

How to do long division
How to do operations with fractions
Their multiplication facts
Their addition facts

Yet... the powers that be think that such a child is going to have more success in the future just for the reason that he/she is taking algebra in middle school when, in fact, it is the opposite. A child will be successful in algebra BECAUSE he/she has mastered a fundamental amount of mathematical thinking BEFORE taking an algebra class.