My students sometimes ask me whether the mathematics in the television show Numb3rs is real. This question, among others, is explored in a fascinating book, The Numbers behind Numb3rs: Solving Crime with Mathematics, by mathematicians Keith Devlin and Gary Lorden…. Read More ›
Teaching & Learning
Dump “No Child Left Behind” Completely?
Yes, dump NCLB completely. But first read Brian Harvey’s brief article in the Blue Sky: New Ideas for the Obama Administration publication out of the UC Berkeley Law School. He’s right, of course.
This isn't school!
The time is 8:30 this morning. The scene is the front of Greenleaf Hall at Milton Academy, as the day begins at The Saturday Course. A mom drops off her fourth-grader. We listen in on their remarks: Mom: Have a… Read More ›
Cellphones: A cautionary tale
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… Read More ›
Interactive whiteboards
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… Read More ›
The Strontium-90 Scenario
In all six sections of college-prep Algebra II (taught by three teachers, with two sections apiece), we have just completed a project in which each student has to understand a scenario (written by one of my colleagues), complete some mathematics… Read More ›
Not thinking of YouTube
We’re studying some 20th-Century mathematics in Precalculus class these days. This situation is unusual in high-school math, where most of what we study goes back at least 300 years, not to mention 2300 in the case of most of our… Read More ›
What's wrong with a 92?
This story is completely true; only the names have been changed to…, etc., etc. So I’m handing back a test this morning, using my new system where the grade is written on the bottom of the last page rather than… Read More ›
National Heritage Museum
Barbara and I, along with my sister Ellen, spent the afternoon today at the National Heritage Museum in Lexington. There are two exhibits there that I can enthusiastically recommend, so go see them while you can! The first is entitled… Read More ›
The Global Achievement Gap
Think about this: The most important skill in the New World of work, learning, and citizenship today — the rigor that matters most — is the ability to ask the right questions. Old World rigor is still about having the… Read More ›
Take it easy, but take it.
It’s a cliché to say so, but this was certainly a day that I’ll remember for the rest of my life! Unlike most such days (the JFK assassination, 9/11, etc.) it was historic as a joyous occasion, not a tragedy…. Read More ›
The Wenham Museum
What an astonishing museum! “An undiscovered gem” was how the docent at the desk described it on our way out, and she is right. Barbara and I visited the Wenham Museum yesterday — our first time in Wenham for either… Read More ›
Why Facebook?
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… Read More ›
The Big Ideas of Algebra, Part Two
This post is a follow-up to my post of November 30, where I brought up two points that can illuminate one’s views on the big ideas of algebra: …we discussed the assignment of partial credit for work in solving a… Read More ›
The inexperienced waitress
The waitress at the Legal Seafoods branch in Harvard Square was nervous and very apologetic. “This is my first time opening a bottle of wine in front of a customer,” she confessed. Of course she wasn’t allowed to rest the… Read More ›
Thesauri & The Man Who Made Lists
I recently read Joshua Kendall’s biography of Peter Mark Roget, entitled The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget’s Thesaurus. While this book is fascinating, it’s also deeply flawed — especially for those of us… Read More ›
How many college recommendations?
I just finished sending off 104 college recommendations this week. How many? Yes, 104. And that was in addition to 21 “early action” recommendations that I sent out earlier in the fall. But before you conclude that that’s a ridiculously… Read More ›
What do I need to do to get an A?
“What do I need to do to get an A?” asks one of my students in an honors math course. I wish I had a magic recipe. I can say with reasonable confidence that it’s possible to get a B… Read More ›
Kindle for textbooks?
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,… Read More ›
Obedience
Obedience, by Will Lavender, is a fascinating but flawed novel. Not flawed like Strip Search, which I reviewed the other day; this novel is worth reading. But it’s flawed nevertheless. It shares with Strip Search the characteristic of a great… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 