DAVID WEES

Thoughts from a reflective educator.

mathchat

Math in the real world: Gardening

March 20, 2012

My uncle called me today, and asked me a math question. Normally, I get called and asked technology related questions, but occasionally people remember that I have a mathematics background and call me in to assist.



Mathematics in the real world: World Statistics

November 25, 2011

This is another post in my series on mathematics in the real world.

 



Math in the real world: Marshmallow constructions

October 29, 2011

This is another post in my series of posts on math in the real world.

Building materials



Should we teach the standard algorithms for arithmetic?

October 18, 2011

Just posted this comment on this article lamenting the loss of the standard algorithms in Mathematics classrooms.

Should we teach the standard algorithms for arithmetic? Absolutely, but they shouldn't be the only algorithms kids learn.



Mathematical Modelling for Real - Exploring Mathematics

October 18, 2011

This playlist has some very interesting videos from the Open University on their YouTube channel on the topic of mathematical modelling, and how it is used in different contexts.



Eric Mazur: Memorization or understanding: are we teaching the right thing?

October 17, 2011

I recommend this talk by Eric Mazur on why he switched his teaching from lecture based teaching to peer instruction based approach. It's more than an hour long, but it really is worth it.

 



I tried the Khan Academy

October 17, 2011

As an experiment, I started out the beginning of this year and tried flipping my classroom, but with a slight twist: I have extra instructional time, so students were to watch the instructional videos (from the Khan Academy and IBVodcasting.com) during classroom time.



Constructivist teaching is not "unassisted discovery"

October 11, 2011

I've been challenged recently to provide research which supports "unassisted discovery" over more traditional techniques for teaching math. This is not possible, as there are no teachers actually using "unassisted discovery" in their classrooms.