Author Archives
In 2018 I semi-retired by retiring from Weston High School after my 21st year teaching mathematics there. This was also my 44th year as a teacher altogether. In 2023 I retired fully, adding in my 18 years at Harvard’s Crimson Summer Academy each summer. For 21 years I had taught at the Saturday Course in Milton, MA, and I used to serve on the board of the Dorchester Historical Society.
I read, cook, and spend a lot of time building my model railroad. For some reason I’m left with less free time than would be ideal, considering that I’m supposed to be retired, but somehow I also manage to devote time to my wife, Barbara, and to our varying number of cats (once up to six, but now sadly down to one).
Larry Davidson
ljd@larrydavidson.com
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Why private schools are better than public schools…or are they?
Everyone knows that private schools are better than public schools, right? Of course that’s a gross generalization — for instance, no one would claim that a third-rate private school is better than Weston High School — but surely it’s true… Read More ›
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Don’t keep calm.
A refreshing change:
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The Outer Limits of Reason
Science and math can tell us everything there is to know about the universe, right? There must be people who believe that. If such people exist, they should definitely run out and read Noson Yanofsky’s new book, The Outer Limits of… Read More ›
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Yes, that's the problem.
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What works in education
It’s hard to know where to begin this post. Perhaps I should simply ask you to read “What works in education” by Grant Wiggins — including the comments. Wiggins discusses John Hattie’s extensive statistical studies that compare the effectiveness of… Read More ›
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William in a box
I guess William wants to be sent by Priority Mail.
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Bring Your Own Technology: A brief progress report
Six months ago I wrote a post about the “Bring Your Own Technology” initiative at Weston (BYOT). It’s time for an informal progress report (from my own point of view — which of course is objective and completely unbiased). On the… Read More ›
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Come to the Fair!
Come visit Weston’s Twelfth Annual Fractal Fair, which is being held on Valentine’s Day this year! That’s Friday, February 14, 10:05-12:15 in the Weston High School Library. The exhibits and presentations by 70 Honors Precalculus students (mostly juniors) will focus on… Read More ›
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Affluenza
I’m uncharacteristically speechless. As Dr. Boyce Watkins puts it, “Rich, white kids have ‘affluenza,’ poor, black kids go to prison.” Here’s the story: A wealthy teen who killed four people in a Texas drunk driving accident will not go to… Read More ›
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Jamaica Plain: No comment.
So I’m in the lobby outside Bella Luna Restaurant in the Brewery Small Business Complex in Jamaica Plain, looking at the bulletin board, and I spot the juxtaposition of these two notices on their community bulletin board. I’ve drawn blue… Read More ›
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Suppose math tells you something that goes against your preconceived beliefs. What do you do?
Yale Law School’s Dan Kahan and three other researchers make the case that those more skilled at math are less likely to come to the correct conclusion on controversial matters—even when the numbers to support that conclusion are clear, empirical,… Read More ›
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Cryptology? Cryptography? Crypto?
One of my students claimed that I was being inconsistent because I sometimes wrote cryptology, sometimes cryptography, and sometimes just crypto. What’s going on here? I suppose I could quote Walt Whitman on the subject of contradicting myself, or I could quote Emerson on the subject… Read More ›
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Data visualization
“Chartjunk?” you ask. “What’s that?” The term comes from Edward Tufte, whose work I have admired for thirty years. If you only have a small amount of time to read what he has written, I recommend the beautiful, 200 page classic, The… Read More ›
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And God Said
Brandeis professor Joel Hoffman’s wonderful linguistic analysis is surprisingly readable and engaging. I recently read his full-length book, And God Said: How Translations Conceal the Bible’s Original Meaning, which is filled with such analysis. Normally I’m not enthusiastic about quoting other readers’ reviews… Read More ›
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RIP, Pete Seeger, 94
It’s the end of an era. My three childhood heroes were Isaac Asimov, who died in 1992; Adlai Stevenson II, who died much earlier, in 1965; and Pete Seeger, who died much later…yesterday. So it took nearly half a century… Read More ›
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Grant Wiggins and Diane Ravitch
It’s always difficult when you admire two different people and they’re in a bitter dispute with each other. Grant Wiggins and Diane Ravitch both have appropriate, well-thought-out views on education. But they deeply disagree on the role that teachers can… Read More ›
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0 for 3
“Sigh. I’m 0 for 3 in recent books and movies!” That’s what I said to myself after finishing a book that I had recently taken out of the library. What I meant was that I had disliked all three of… Read More ›
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PD and edX
Yesterday was the fourth day of a long weekend for my students, but a professional development day for us teachers. It was surprisingly productive. As a department we constructed a list of every unit in every math course in grades… Read More ›
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What is a proof?
High-school math teachers and those who know them need to be concerned with what a proof is. That certainly isn’t a new claim. But for most students a proof is something you learn to construct in high-school geometry class and… Read More ›
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NSA, crypto, and a long project
Back in September I wrote a long post about a recent book written by Rafe Esquith. My second paragraph began with this observation: It wasn’t clear to me at first whether this book would have anything to offer a math… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 