Looking at Old Things in New Ways

Don Steward's Blog Median provides an impressive array of problems and tasks that are unique and can serve as a starting point for many different activities. He has the unique ability to ask old questions in new ways.

Mash-Up - Instructional Routines and Ambitious Teaching

Let's start here:

What kinds of math teaching is best? Apparently, it's ambitious, inquiry-oriented teaching: https://t.co/UtVtfTPJX2

— Dylan Wiliam (@dylanwiliam) November 23, 2015

1. Why Instructional Routines
2. Identifying Practices That Support Achievement
3. What is Ambitious Teaching
4. Coherent Conversations About Teaching
5. Alternatives to Remedial Pedagogy

Mash-Up - The Math Wars Writ Small

Let's begin with this tweet:

I invite @nytJaneKarr, @anya1anya, and @DanaGoldstein to read @profkeithdevlin's review of "The Math Myth".https://t.co/O6V9G63sqE

— Patrick Honner (@MrHonner) March 3, 2016

And the referenced article critiquing the book The Math Myth by Andrew Hacker. Devlin makes the point that Hacker is basically clueless about math ed and, I would add, writing a book that many people will gladly buy and get behind because of their feelings about math education today.

Hacker's original editorial Is Algebra Necessary?

Devlin's response on at The Huffington Post

And a Hacker interview with The Chronicle of Higher Education.

We don't need mathematical thinking? Really?

Edit: Another article about The Math Myth

Daily Mash-Up

Sometimes I find great ideas but don't have the time right now to process them and don't want to lose them as a set of related links. So what do I do then? I mash them up and make a blog paste out of them. To return to later.

The starter for this mash-up was this tweet. The rest follows.

3wks late to the blog reading party, but this, from Ben Blum-Smith, is so good: Lessons from @bowenkerins
and @dyong https://t.co/nOQRhBuRAA

— Fawn Nguyen (@fawnpnguyen) February 22, 2016

1. Ben Blum-Smith's Post 
2. PCMI Problem Sets
3. Read Section 1 of THIS problem set to see the general philosophy
4. About Cognitive Theft
5. A reaction to Blum-Smith's post offering more ideas on grouping
6. About PCMI
7. Details about 2015 PCMI
8. Bowen Kerins on Twitter
9. Law of the Broken Futon

Factorization in Pictures

Recent websplorations have led me to this:

Factorization Diagram

which will eventually lead me to buy this:

Factorization Diagram Print

and spend way to much time watching and thinking about this:

Factorization Diagram Visualization

and exploring here:

Data Pointed

and especially here:

Visualizations

John Conway's Game of Life

Here's a fun way to explore the Game of Life and some of it's amazing inhabitants.

LINK

Another Reason to Flip

As I consider moving to a flipped classroom I am reminded of another benefit. Every one of my classes consists of students sitting at distance learning centers as well as my F2F students. Often, the students at the distance sites are not involved at all and sit through the entire semester without participating in the class.

In a flipped classroom it would be possible to take time to devote entirely to these distance students. While all students are working on problems and activities it would be possible for me to engage my distance students directly. I have never found another way to do this. It is becoming more and more evident that flipping is going to happen.