The youth of Ireland are becoming increasingly poor spellers and writers, and their love of text messaging on cellphones is a major reason why, according to the Education Department.

In a report published Wednesday on national test results in English for about 37,000 students aged 15 and 16, the department’s Examination [...]]]> A lot of adults are complaining that teens are “illiterate” in their writing, especially in email messages — you know, “kids these days…” and all that — but that’s not what I’m seeing. The abysmal level of teenage writing is usually attributed to their addiction to text messaging, a.k.a. texting. For example:

The youth of Ireland are becoming increasingly poor spellers and writers, and their love of text messaging on cellphones is a major reason why, according to the Education Department.

In a report published Wednesday on national test results in English for about 37,000 students aged 15 and 16, the department’s Examination Commission said cutting-edge communications technology has encouraged poor literacy and a blunt, choppy style at odds with academic rigor.

“Text messaging, with its use of phonetic spelling and little or no punctuation, seems to pose a threat to traditional conventions in writing,” said the report written by the department’s chief examiner, whose identity is kept confidential to safeguard the integrity of tests.

The report branded today’s teens “unduly reliant on short sentences, simple tenses and a limited vocabulary.”

…

Ireland is among the world leaders in cell-phone use — in part because of traditionally high costs for conventional phone lines — and surveys indicate that a majority of children have their own mobile phone by age 12, with the most enthusiastic texters sending more than 250 a week.

Yes, that happens to be Ireland. But we hear the same kind of complaints in this country as well. However, as I said above, that’s not what I’m seeing. Of course I may have a very skewed sample, consisting primarily of Weston students, but since I’m not pretending to be doing a statistically valid survey I’ll go ahead with my observations, skewed though they may be. Here’s what I see. I’ll stick to email, since that’s where we’re most likely to see overly informal writing:

Most students know how to address adults (teachers, at least) in their writing, even when using email. The big exception is the capitalization of the pronoun “I,” which often appears uncapitalized. Otherwise their grammar, style, punctuation, and spelling are all pretty reasonable. I’m not claiming that we have works of literature here — merely that the quality of writing is close to that of adults.

To gather my evidence, I looked at 20 consecutive email messages written by my students in October. (As I say, it’s certainly not a rigorous survey, nor was it meant to be.) Here they are in their entirety; I have omitted no messages, nor have I edited anything beyond adding message numbers and altering students’ names. Judge for yourself.

1 Hey Mr. Davidson,

I hope that i could get a recommendation from you. I’m sorry i couldn’t get to you earlier about the recommendation letter.
To make it easier for you, i’ll be sending the info you need over email. However since i do not have the finalized list of the colleges that i would like to apply to, is it possible to hold onto the the rec. till i can get you the list of colleges? After i’ve narrowed my list down i’ll be able to give you the letters that you need to send them off in. Thanks a lot.

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2 Hey Mr. Davidson,

I am doing a lot better today, yesterday and Tuesday were truly awful though, so although i’m not 100%, I feel “relatively GREAT” and it was very nice to get back to school today. I stopped by your desk after school to talk about what I missed and you weren’t there, but luckily I’ve been getting filled in pretty well from classmates, and borrowed a textbook, so i’m not behind, and just may need some help completing tonights assignment. I noticed a note on your desk that said you will miss tomorrows class, is this true?

Thanks for the check-in, I appreciate it, and I hope to see you soon!

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3 Hi Mr. Davidson,

This is Stu Dent in your H block Geometry class. I’m just wondering
what days you free after or before school this week before the 18th?
Thanks alot!

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4

On the westonmath website for #6 on tonight’s homework I’m not sure what the &ndash means. Should I assume the question is for (X+2)^2?

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5 Hi Mr. Davidson,

I was wondering if there was a possibility I could meet with you tomorrow morning regarding proofs as I am confused going about proving them especially with word problems such as the one with the bus and railroad for example. I’m willing to come whenever you are available (except maybe not 3:00 AM in the morning!).

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6 Hi Mr. Davidson

I’m having some trouble with the domain and range part of tonight’s homework, as well as the Dr. scheme questions. Could I meet with you at 7:15 tomorrow morning to go over it?

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7 Hi Mr. Davidson

I’m in your Honors Geometry class Block F. I just have one question. For the sample problems you gave in the book, I’m not quite sure what method I should use to solve the last question, number 43. I usually use guess and check, but I know there could be an equation to solve it, but I’m not quite sure what the equation is.

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8 Hello Mr. Davidson,
I have registered onto the math blog site and I was wondering how to do I actually post a blog since I have not been able to find the button that allows me to actually make a post.

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9 Hi Mr. Davidson,

Tomorrow I have a study hall first and last block.  I was wondering if you were free either of those blocks so that I could go over the test with you.

Thanks!

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10 Hi Mr.Davidson,
I went over the clock problems with a friend and now I understand it so I don’t need to meet with you! Thanks

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11 Hi Mr Davidson,
Could i see you tommorow morning before school starts to go over some test questions and concepts? Thanks

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12 Hi Mr. Davidson,

I’m in your F Block Honors Geometry class. I just have one question. On the test, on problem 3, for the collinear points question, I think it was the last one. I got that question wrong because I said the points were collinear. I don’t know why, though, its wrong. Can you please explain it to me so I don’t make the same mistake on future test or quizzes?

Thanks,

---

13 Hello,

I just submitted the post that I created on the blog website.
I did not remember how to make the math look like math.
Also, when I try to preview it, it says “Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.”
I probably did something wrong and I’m not really sure how I can fix it.

Thanks,

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14 Hi Mr. Davidson,

I think I may have left my math book in your class on Friday. If you have it could you please let me know and I can get it on Tuesday.

Thank you very much and have a good long weekend!

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15 It is Stu Dent. I have contacted you because i finished my blog, and saved it, but then logged out, and it seems now that the website could be messed up, because when i try, it says “Cheatin’ Uh.” I will continue to try, but could you please respond, because i would like to have my post up.

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16 Hi Mr. Davidson,
This seems like forever ago, but at the end of last year you said you could help me out by writing my college recommendation.  I have the form from the school and the forms from CommonApp.org almost ready to give you, so I thought I should let you know where I am/remind you.  I am applying to one school Early (November 1), so I also have an envelope from that school, and then I will bring the rest later when I decide what schools I am going to apply to Regular (January 1).
Would you like to meet with me before you write it?  Or can I just drop off the packet of papers with you?
I only have one free, so if we met it would probably have to be either in the morning, during lunch, or quickly after school.
Thanks for all your help,

---

17 Hi Mr.Davidson,
My parents and I discussed my last quiz and test grades we thought
that maybe I should consider taking the CP geometry course. Do you
have any input on this and is there an F block CP geometry class?
Please let me know.
Thank you,

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18 Mr. Davidson
So i know it’s been a while since we’ve talked but I was wondering if you need anything from me for teacher recs. I will have the envelopes and teacher rec form to you for Thursday. May I drop it off Thursday after school? I am actually just giving you the info (envelope, due date) for the school that I am applying early to because I still have to finalize my other schools. I will tell you the rest of the schools as soon as I finish my list. I hope that’s okay.
Thanks,

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19 hi mr. davidson!
its Matilda. well i was talking to Stu Dent and he tried helping me with the blogging but it wouldnt work. and he said that i had the same problem as him and the admin messed up the account or something like that. i couldnt write the blog! let me know how to fix it. see you tomorrow!

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20 Hi Mr. Davidson, I’m finishing up the teacher recommendation package that I plan to give to you tomorrow in school. There are a few things that I can include if you feel that you need or want them: my activity list, parent brag sheet, the teacher rec Basic Questionnaire, etc. Would you like me to include any of these in your package?

Vincent Connare, and Comic Sans: Font of choice for kitschy restaurant menus, passive-aggressive office notices and the worst websites on the internet, Comic Sans is merely a lame font, made evil by its endless, widespread use. From the WSJ, the creator on his most maligned creation, which was originally intended [...]]]> If you’re a long-time reader of this blog, you will recall that I wrote a post four years ago entitled, “Ban Comic Sans!”, in which I linked to the ban comic sans site. Now Gizmodo has a new take on the matter in John Herrman’s list of Eight Regrettable Tech Inventions:

Vincent Connare, and Comic Sans: Font of choice for kitschy restaurant menus, passive-aggressive office notices and the worst websites on the internet, Comic Sans is merely a lame font, made evil by its endless, widespread use. From the WSJ, the creator on his most maligned creation, which was originally intended for use exclusively in Microsoft Bob: “He cringes at the most improbable manifestations of his Frankenstein’s monster font and rarely uses it himself, but he says he tries to be polite when he meets people excited to be in the presence of the creator.” Connare’s penance has already been paid: Microsoft owns the font, so he couldn’t earn any royalties from its viral — and I mean that in the worst way possible — spread.

“Yes,” I replied, “but I’ve never before met a fifth-grader who knows about them!” This mut have been ancient history to him.

He went on to tell me that the Alto was the first computer to use windows, menu, and a mouse, but that Xerox’s marketing department wasn’t able to sell it to home users.

Actually, I wrote once before about a Saturday Course student who surprised me with her wisdom and knowledge — and that was a [...]]]> “Do you know about the Xerox Alto and Xerox Star computers from back in the ’70s?” asked one of my fifth-graders in The Saturday Course.

“Yes,” I replied, “but I’ve never before met a fifth-grader who knows about them!” This mut have been ancient history to him.

He went on to tell me that the Alto was the first computer to use windows, menu, and a mouse, but that Xerox’s marketing department wasn’t able to sell it to home users.

Actually, I wrote once before about a Saturday Course student who surprised me with her wisdom and knowledge — and that was a fourth-grader that time — so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. But this blast from the past was definitely unexpected.

Facebook is ruining our social relationships; Google is making us dumber; texting is destroying the English language as we know it. We’re facing a crisis, one that could very well corrode the way humans have communicated since we first evolved from apes.

While I’m sure that many of my students spend too much time on Facebook and too [...]]]> Vincent Rossmeier has written a refreshing article in Salon entitled “Is the Internet melting our brains?” Essentially an interview with linguist Dennis Baron about his new book, A Better Pencil, the article counters much of the typical hand-wringing in the mainstream media and academia:

Facebook is ruining our social relationships; Google is making us dumber; texting is destroying the English language as we know it. We’re facing a crisis, one that could very well corrode the way humans have communicated since we first evolved from apes.

While I’m sure that many of my students spend too much time on Facebook and too much time texting, I’m equally sure that their social relationships and their use of English were no better before they indulged in such activities. I’ve reserved Baron’s book from the library, and I’ll post a review here (but only after I’ve read it).

Dorchester is the largest geographic and most populated neighborhood in the city of Boston. Home to Dot Ave., it is also Boston’s most diverse neighborhood, with large pockets of African Americans, Irish, Vietnamese, Caribbean, and South and Central American residents. In recent years, the neighborhood has seen an influx of young working professionals, working artists (in areas like Lower Mills, Peabody Square, and Savin Hill), and a growing GLBT [...]]]> How nice to see a website that actually recognizes Dorchester as a neighborhood of Boston! Povo not only lists it prominently, but its description is an accurate portrayal of Dorchester’s many virtues:

Dorchester is the largest geographic and most populated neighborhood in the city of Boston. Home to Dot Ave., it is also Boston’s most diverse neighborhood, with large pockets of African Americans, Irish, Vietnamese, Caribbean, and South and Central American residents. In recent years, the neighborhood has seen an influx of young working professionals, working artists (in areas like Lower Mills, Peabody Square, and Savin Hill), and a growing GLBT community along Dorchester Avenue, while it’s still predominantly a working class neighborhood and a thriving center of immigration. The neighborhood also includes vast economic diversity. Housing varies incredibly from housing projects in places like Bowdoin/Geneva and Franklin Field to stately Victorian homes in places like Ashmont Hill and Melville Park.

Contrast this paragraph with the usual treatment. Other websites almost always do one of the following:

• They ignore Dorchester completely, because they think it has little to offer out-of-towners. For example, here’s Fodor’s list of “Places to explore” in Boston:
  
• Alternatively, they notice nothing about Dorchester except for its crime, which is so well publicized by the media. For example, here’s a sentence from a movie review written halfway across the country, in Madison, Wisconsin:
  

  The Dorchester neighborhood is a tough one, mostly lower working class, dotted with slummy bars where drug-related shootings are a regular occurrence.

So check out Povo for the straight scoop with a positive POV that’s not written by the real-estate industry.

The girl claimed that it was merely a “low battery” message.

Perhaps that’s all it was. Probably in fact that’s what it was. But it was still a gross violation of the rules, which prohibit not only [...]]]> During yesterday’s Massachusetts Math League meet in Westford, a cell phone belonging to a student from a nearby high school (neither Weston nor Westford) emitted a tone during the first round. She pulled the phone out of her pocket, looked at the screen for awhile, pressed a button, and put it away. The proctor, assuming that she had received a text message, reported the incident.

The girl claimed that it was merely a “low battery” message.

Perhaps that’s all it was. Probably in fact that’s what it was. But it was still a gross violation of the rules, which prohibit not only the use of cell phones when competing but even the presence of cell phones in the room. Students are supposed to keep their phones in the prep room and not carrying them into the competition rooms. They know the rules.

If, of course, a student turns off her phone and puts it in her pocket, no one will know if she has brought it into the competition room. But that’s not what happened here. So she received a zero for the round, affecting not only her own score (reducing her possible total from 18 to 12) but also her team’s score. Perhaps that penalty was not sufficiently severe.

And the moral is…

Somewhat [...]]]> Yesterday was an “abbreviated Wednesday” at Weston High School, since the afternoon was devoted to a Professional Development Day for teachers. We focused on the subject of interactive whiteboards (IWBs); many of our classrooms have recently been equipped with either an ActivBoard or a SmartBoard, and we badly need training in how to use them effectively. An ActivBoard was installed in my classroom over the summer, and I’ve attempted to use both their own software and the SmartBoard software with the ActivBoard. Although they are competing brands (and the hardware is different), the software is reasonably compatible and somewhat similar.

Somewhat — but definitely not entirely. As a result of the workshop, I have decided to give up on the SmartBoard software and return to the ActivBoard software, which definitely is closer to meeting my needs as a teacher. I wouldn’t pretend to have done anything like a thorough analysis of their relative strengths and weaknesses; all I can say is that there are several tasks that don’t work as well (or apparently don’t work at all) on the SmartBoard. But take this with a grain of salt, since the information that I don’t yet know about either one would fill a book. There is a small amount of evidence (not definitive, but still…) that the ActivBoard software works better on Macs and the SmartBoard software works better on Windows. My conjecture — with no evidence at all — is that this difference arises because the ActivBoard software was probably developed on Macs and the SmartBoard software on Windows; when each is ported to the other platform, it’s never quite as effective as the original.

The bottom line, of course, is whether either of these products helps kids learn better and helps teachers teach better, or whether they are merely cool toys. They both have a somewhat useful feature that one’s notes on the whiteboard can be captured as computer images and then posted on a website. Then absentees can find class notes and students who were present in class can check their own notes against what was written on the board. Frankly, though, I’m skeptical of this feature, at least for the absentees: class notes in a math class are almost entirely cryptic to anyone who wasn’t there to listen to the class and participate in it. Maybe it works in other subjects. As for other features of the interactive whiteboards, the jury is still out concerning their effectiveness. The only study I’ve seen so far is “The Interactive Whiteboards, Pedagogy and Pupil Performance Evaluation: An Evaluation of the Schools Whiteboard Expansion (SWE) Project: London Challenge,” which draws the following conclusions (you’ll have to work your way through the educationese):

The main findings are that the SWE scheme substantially increased the number of IWBs in use in London secondary school core subject departments. As a technology, IWBs adapt well to the kind of whole class teaching environment favoured in secondary school core subjects. Their actual use varies according to the teacher, and between subject areas.

The transformation of secondary school pedagogy is a long term project. The use of IWBs can contribute to this aim under the appropriate circumstances. Discussion of pedagogy should precede and embed discussion of the technology. Successful CPD is most likely to be effective if it supports individual teachers’ exploration of their current pedagogy, and helps identify how IWB use can support, extend or transform this. Discussion of the relative strengths and weaknesses of different ways of using the technology for particular purposes should be part of the on-going work of a department. Although the newness of the technology was initially welcomed by pupils any boost in motivation seems short-lived. Statistical analysis showed no impact on pupil performance in the first year in which departments were fully equipped. This is as we would expect at this stage in the policy-cycle.

…

There are potentially some drawbacks to the ways in which IWBs are currently being used. The technology can:

• Reinforce a transmission style of whole class teaching in which the contents of the board multiply and go faster, whilst pupils are increasingly reduced to a largely spectator role;
• Reduce interactivity to what happens at the board, not what happens in the classroom.

Those with responsibility for the rollout of the technology and training for best practice in its use need to be aware of these dangers and help refocus discussion amongst colleagues on their pedagogic aims so that teachers harness what the
technology itself can do in the light of their broader pedagogic purposes.

Further research and exploration of how peripherals can mediate the focus on action at the front of the class, and create more space for pupil involvement in the creation of lesson content is needed. Amongst practitioners, this kind of exploration currently flows from teachers already committed to using any technology in this way, i.e. bending the technology to their own pedagogic intent.

As I say, the jury is still out. As with so many technological advances, its success may all hang on adequate teacher training.

That’s an easy question. I have a Facebook account because some of my students kept pestering me to set one up. Apparently Facebook is absolutely essential to high-school life. And several other Weston teachers are on Facebook; why shouldn’t I be?

So I gave in. Being mildly concerned about privacy issues as a public-school teacher, I set up some limitations: I don’t show my birthday, my political views, or my religious views; I don’t post my address or phone numbers; and I don’t check “Friends may post [...]]]> So, why do I have a Facebook account if I don’t do anything with it?

That’s an easy question. I have a Facebook account because some of my students kept pestering me to set one up. Apparently Facebook is absolutely essential to high-school life. And several other Weston teachers are on Facebook; why shouldn’t I be?

So I gave in. Being mildly concerned about privacy issues as a public-school teacher, I set up some limitations: I don’t show my birthday, my political views, or my religious views; I don’t post my address or phone numbers; and I don’t check “Friends may post to my Wall.” I’ll accept friend requests from current and former students, but I won’t initiate them. These restrictions seem excessive to my students, but I’m comfortable with them.

The problem is that I don’t know what to do with Facebook! I already have a blog (you’re reading it now), and I am totally comfortable with email and IM, having used both since 1978. But the whole concept of a social networking site like Facebook eludes me. One thing that students tell me is that they use it to send messages to classmates — when they’re organizing a class party, for example — and that use makes sense to me. But why do they want all of their “friends” (hundreds of them, in some cases) to read personal messages that might apply to just one person or at any rate might not be public information?

Some day, perhaps, someone will give me a clear explanation of what I want to do with my Facebook account. In the meantime, there it is, and I check it every two or three days…

For other opinions, see Would you track your health on Facebook.

You can create an image from text that you type in, or from a URL of a blog with [...]]]> I just discovered a cool poster-creating applet called Wordle. In their own words:

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

You can create an image from text that you type in, or from a URL of a blog with an RSS feed. In the latter case, the applet uses all the text it finds at that URL, excluding some common English words (or whatever other language you might choose).

I rather like the result I got by giving them the URL of this blog:

So why hasn’t anyone jumped on this opportunity? Save our students’ backs!________*Actually, I made this [...]]]> One of my students asked me why his textbooks aren’t available for Kindle. Currently the typical Weston student’s backpack weighs 42 pounds*; Kindle weighs only ten ounces! Aside from everything else that’s available for it, imagine replacing your math book, your English book, your science book, your history book, and your Latin book (not to mention the extra book for the student taking two math courses or two sciences or two languages…) with a single light-weight device. It would be much cheaper for the publishers, too.

So why hasn’t anyone jumped on this opportunity? Save our students’ backs!
________
*Actually, I made this figure up. But the reality is probably all too close to that.

Maybe so, but at least the recommendations still came from the students.

Here’s what I have, in alphabetical order: First is Dactyl, a game of hand-eye coordination. Not unexpectedly, I’m terrible at Dactyl and can’t possibly compete with my freshmen and sophomores on the math team. Then [...]]]> Having been an enthusiastic iPhone user for the past four months, I’m not surprised that many of my students want to play games on it (at least those students who don’t have iPhones themselves; this is Weston, after all). That’s a good excuse for installing games, isn’t it? Or do I just want to play them myself?

Maybe so, but at least the recommendations still came from the students.

Here’s what I have, in alphabetical order:

• First is Dactyl, a game of hand-eye coordination. Not unexpectedly, I’m terrible at Dactyl and can’t possibly compete with my freshmen and sophomores on the math team.
• Then comes Enigmo, which I haven’t learned yet, so I have no opinion on it. But my students tell me that it involves physics and problem solving, so it must be good.
• Then we have Labyrinth Lite, an astonishingly faithful reproduction of the classic wooden labyrinth game. Tilting the iPhone backward and forward in two directions exactly mimics the physical game, even to the point of accurately reproducing the momentum and sounds of the real-life steel ball.
• The silliest game that used to be on my iPhone is Scoops. Scoops of ice cream fall from the sky, and you move your cone left and right in order to catch the scoops while you avoid onions. Onions? Yes, onions. I’ve removed Scoops, even though a certain sophomore disapproves of my doing so.
• Then there’s Tetris, though I’m currently using the unauthorized knock-off called Tris, which I installed shortly before it got kicked off the Apple Store. Maybe I’ll get the real thing, as Tris rotates the tetrominoes counterclockwise rather than clockwise as nature intended.
• Finally we have my current favorite, Trace. It’s hard to describe this one, but it’s addictive and not time-pressured, so try it yourself!

Of course I also play Sudoku a lot, but that’s really a puzzle, not a game.

What’s next? Scrabble, perhaps? Or SimCity? Is the screen big enough for either of them?

Many of my students agree that this is really cool, although some adults think that it’s a waste of time. I don’t really understand their point of view, since they are likely to spend their time on useless things like watching football games, but anyway….

The reason that I [...]]]> I recently installed an unusual application on my iPhone: Ocarina. This program turns your iPhone into a four-hole ocarina, with the holes outlined on the iPhone’s touch-sensitive screen. But the really cool thing is that you actually blow into your iPhone to simulate blowing into the ocarina! Try it: it really works!

Many of my students agree that this is really cool, although some adults think that it’s a waste of time. I don’t really understand their point of view, since they are likely to spend their time on useless things like watching football games, but anyway….

The reason that I had to demo this product for my precalculus class is that we have just finished studying the use of trigonometric and exponential functions to model musical sounds, and one of the issues that arose is what the dependent variable represents when graphing an oscilloscopic rendering of a tone. Sure, if Middle C is 262 Hz, we notice that the frequency is 262 cycles per second since the period of the independent variable is 1/262 of a second. But what does the y-axis represent? We say pressure, and we may measure it in pascals or mV, but what does this have to do with the loudness of a sign? The direct analog construction of the iPhone ocarina application — with no intermediate abstractions of digital software — provides a clear understanding of this phenomenon, since the user’s breath blowing into the iPhone moves the membrane of the microphone, illustrating pressure in a literal way.

I do agree that their picture is troubling, but something about their analysis makes me uneasy. First let’s look at their results: More than one in three boys (35 percent) and one-fourth of the girls (26 percent)…admitted stealing from a store within the past year.

…

A substantial majority (64 percent) cheated on a test during the [...]]]> The Josephson Institute Study of the Ethics of American Youth has been widely reported on such widely varied outlets as National Public Radio, Fox News, and Yahoo News. They report “a troubling picture of our future politicians and parents, cops and corporate executives, and journalists and generals.”

I do agree that their picture is troubling, but something about their analysis makes me uneasy. First let’s look at their results:

More than one in three boys (35 percent) and one-fourth of the girls (26 percent)…admitted stealing from a store within the past year.

…

A substantial majority (64 percent) cheated on a test during the past year (38 percent did so two or more times).

…

As bad as these numbers are, it appears they understate the level of dishonesty exhibited by America’s youth. More than one in four (26 percent) confessed they lied on at least one or two questions on the survey. Experts agree that dishonesty on surveys usually is an attempt to conceal misconduct.

The justification, of course, is that “everyone else does it.” That may explain the cognitive dissonance:

Despite these high levels of dishonesty, the respondents have a high self-image when it comes to ethics. A whopping 93 percent said they were satisfied with their personal ethics and character and 77 percent said that when it comes to doing what is right, I am better than most people I know.

So, how do we interpret all of this? As a teacher of teens, I have to be troubled by these results. (I’m ignoring the self-reported accounts of using the Internet to cheat, as that’s a remarkably gray area.) But the report doesn’t quite ring true, despite the assurance that “These statistics have been verified by the Department Chair, Decision Sciences & Marketing, Graziadio School of Business & Management, Pepperdine University.” Maybe I’m in an atypical situation, but I just can’t believe that over half of my students have cheated on a test during the past year. I don’t want to be flippant, but maybe it depends on what the definition of “cheat” is. Maybe I’m just unobservant, but I don’t see students using notes on a no-notes section of a test, and I don’t see them texting on their cell phones, and it’s hard for me to figure out other ways in which they might be cheating. I do hear of the occasional student in other classes who texts during a test or sneaks in notes, but I just don’t see it, and it seems rare and exceptional. I guess I have to look into this matter further.

A meme…comprises any idea or behavior that can pass from one person to another by learning or imitation. Examples include thoughts, ideas, theories, gestures, practices, fashions, habits, songs, and dances. Memes propagate [...]]]> What’s a meme? Well, those of us who have spent too many years on the Internet (from its inception in 1969, actually, when it was called the ARPAnet) and those of us who have read The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins, know what a meme is. Although the Wikipedia article on memes is far too long and leaves a lot to be desired, it definitely includes the correct definition:

A meme…comprises any idea or behavior that can pass from one person to another by learning or imitation. Examples include thoughts, ideas, theories, gestures, practices, fashions, habits, songs, and dances. Memes propagate themselves and can move through the cultural sociosphere in a manner similar to the contagious behavior of a virus.

That’s clear enough, so why is the word used incorrectly these days by so many people, some of whom should definitely know better but most of whom have never learned what a meme really is? Many writers seem to think that a meme is an informal quiz or questionnaire that is passed around by email or by the Web, often of the “you are a _____” variety. Now you can see both the similarities and the differences here: Do they propagate themselves, or do users intentionally transmit them? Are they cultural ideas and behaviors, or are they questionnaires? The word is definitely losing most of its import these days!

As a teacher, I suppose I’d better cite some sources for this claim. I’m sure that some of my colleagues would be aghast that I cited Wikipedia as my source for the correct use of a word, but so be it. As for the current incorrect use, I am reluctant to cite either email messages or websites of friends — for obvious reasons — but I can probably find similar use by strangers without much effort. Let’s see… most of the initial hits from a Google search actually lead to the correct usage (much to my surprise), but I’m sure I can also find the usage I object to… OK, here are a few:

• from Melissa somebody or other
• from one ExileJedi
• from VirusHead (??)

That’s enough. You get the idea. What’s up here?

There are several types of benefits for the students. Some benefits are conceptual, involving understanding ideas about public-key cryptography, ranging from technical questions like how a cryptosystem can use a public key, why [...]]]> By this point I’ve taught simplified versions of the RSA algorithm to ten different cohorts of teens: four years’ worth of Honors Algebra II students at Weston High School, juniors for four summers at Crimson Summer Academy, and two years’ worth of college-prep Algebra II students at Weston. Tweaking the details as I’ve gone along, and benefitting from changes in technology, I’ve learned a lot from these experiences.

There are several types of benefits for the students. Some benefits are conceptual, involving understanding ideas about public-key cryptography, ranging from technical questions like how a cryptosystem can use a public key, why that’s necessary, and why it’s secure, to public-interest issues like whether we can trust so-called “secure” financial transactions on the Internet. I could have predicted these benefits; the unit was designed to try to achieve them, after all. And I could have predicted the success of some of the more concrete mathematical benefits as well, since RSA involves exponentiation, prime numbers, modular arithmetic, factoring, representation of characters as integers, and other operations with numbers. But a third type of benefit is more of a surprise: because the technical details are complicated, and even a single mistake can doom the effort to failure, most of my students have been doggedly persistent in paying attention to details and getting them right. Too often we can fall into the trap parodied by Tom Lehrer: “The important thing is to understand what you’re doing rather than to get the right answer.” We give so much partial credit that a student can get a B without ever producing a correct result. Part of the way that my colleagues and I have avoided this trap with RSA is that our sequence of activities and assignments concludes with a two-way exchange of messages: each student sends me a message using my public key, and I reply with a message using the student’s public key. This gives everyone practice in figuring out their private and public keys, enciphering, and deciphering. But fewer than half the kids get it right the first time, since there are so many opportunities to make mistakes. Unlike the usual math problem, they can’t settle for having a couple of points taken off; the message simply won’t work. So they try over and over again — sometimes four or five times — in order to get it right. If they don’t, I can’t read their message, or they can’t read mine.

If you’re interested in checking out how I’ve simplified RSA so it can be studied at the level of Algebra II, take a look at my worksheets, starting at RSA Phase One. (If you keep incrementing the “1” in that URL, you’ll find the next three worksheets at the expected URLs.)