davidwees.com

This year I have really tried to step up the process of bringing the real world into my mathematics class.  A major focus has been on using technology appropriately as a tool to help solve real life problems.

Here are some examples:

Distance formula:  Finding an optimal (or near optimal) solution to the Traveling Salesman problem for a small number of cities.  

I personally think people learn through an unconscious process called experiential learning.  They hypothesize about how the world should work, collect data, compare the data they have collected to see if it fits in their theory, and then revise their theory if they feel enough evidence has been found.  In this theory, as described by Kolb (1984), people construct an understanding of the world around them using what they know as a basis.

I'm working on my personal learning theory again, as a reflective activity in my Masters degree.  I created a very short summary of my personal learning theory before, and am now updating it to include vocabulary and ideas from the semester long course I just finished about learning theories.  I hope most teaching colleges offer this kind of course as part of their teacher training, it has been incredibly valuable to me.

Here is what I have so far:

Personal Learning Theory

I personally think people learn through an unconscious process very much like the scientific method.  They hypothesize about how the world should work, collect data, compare the data they have collected to see if it fits in their theory, and then revise their theory if they feel enough evidence has been found.  In this way, people construct an understanding of the world around them using what they know as a