Learning Strategies

Recent Posts - page 84

• On Looking

  By ljd42 on September 11, 2013

  “How do you like my new hairstyle?” “Um…what new hairstyle?” OK, I’m not the most observant person in the world, to put it mildly. But I’d like to get better. And I’m really interested in cities, and in psychology, and… Read More ›

• Cryptography and the NSA

  By ljd42 on September 10, 2013

  Everyone knows the big splash of news about the NSA revealed by Edward Snowden: “the NSA Is Breaking Most Encryption on the Internet,” in the words of foremost security/cryptography expert Bruce Schneier. This was a matter of great interest here… Read More ›

• The Golden Egg

  By ljd42 on September 9, 2013

  The Golden Egg is another fine novel by Donna Leon. This thoughtful novel rewards slow, careful reading — don’t expect a fast-paced thriller here. As is usual in Leon’s books, the city of Venice (where Leon lives) is one of the… Read More ›

• The Big Ideas of Algebra, Part Three

  By ljd42 on September 8, 2013

  

  Four or five years ago, I wrote a couple of posts on the Big Ideas of algebra: Part One was published on November 30, 2008; Part Two on January 7, 2009. It’s time for Part Three, isn’t it? Fortunately, the… Read More ›

• What does an IT department do?

  By ljd42 on September 7, 2013

  Speaking of the Math Curmudgeon, I’m glad I don’t teach where he teaches. At least we don’t have these problems. (Just don’t get me started on Infinite Campus…)

• What’s wrong with group work?

  By ljd42 on September 6, 2013

  I have truly mixed feelings about group work. In general, people learn more and get more done when collaborating with colleagues (or fellow students) than when they try to go it alone. And working with others is unquestionably a valuable… Read More ›

• The Child’s Child

  By ljd42 on September 5, 2013

  There’s no such thing as a bad book by Ruth Rendell. The Child’s Child, written under Rendell’s Barbara Vine pseudonym, must therefore be a good book. It’s the only possible logical deduction. Is The Child’s Child a mystery novel? Not really…. Read More ›

• “Geometry is the glue between statistics and computer science.”

  By ljd42 on September 4, 2013

  A provocative quotation: “Geometry is the glue between statistics and computer science.” Say what? Well, that’s what Michael Jordan claims. No, not that Michael Jordan. This one is a computer scientist from UC Berkeley. But what on earth does his… Read More ›

• The four pillars of high-school mathematics

  By ljd42 on September 3, 2013

  

  What do we teach in high-school math? If we look at the big picture —not at specific topics in specific courses — what do we teach? Numbers? Formulas? Algorithms? Taking standardized tests? All of the above? None of the above? There’s… Read More ›

• The Last Samurai

  By ljd42 on September 2, 2013

  

  What a fascinating story! There are several books by this title, but I’m talking about the first novel by Helen DeWitt, published in the year 2000. If you know me, you won’t wonder which half of the story I liked… Read More ›

• Blackout and All Clear

  By ljd42 on August 31, 2013

  Time travel stories are tricky. The author must either ignore the inevitable paradoxes or must find some plausible device for resolving them. (In a few cases, there’s a third option: the author decides to wallow in paradoxes, which can put… Read More ›

• The case against Algebra II?

  By ljd42 on August 29, 2013

  The reason these kids are upset is that they are required to do something they can’t do. They are forced, repeatedly, to stare at hairy, square- rooted, polynomialed horseradish clumps of mute symbology that irritate them, that stop them in… Read More ›

• The Cats’ House

  By ljd42 on August 27, 2013

  

    What an amazing book! Or perhaps I should say “What an amazing house!” Bob Walker and his wife Frances have turned their house into a jungle gym for their nine cats, as you can see in this image. But… Read More ›

• How to pick a tutor…or not

  By ljd42 on August 26, 2013

  Who needs a tutor? You do! Well, no…you probably don’t. Even if  you’re faced with the challenge of Honors Geometry (a rude awakening to many students who are suddenly faced with the demands of their first high-school honors math course),… Read More ›

• The soft bigotry of low expectations

  By ljd42 on August 25, 2013

  I hate to use a phrase that was coined by a senior advisor to President George W. Bush. But use it I must…and even in a similar context. Michael Gerson described the all-too-common educational practice of expecting less from members… Read More ›

• Learning goals and common assessments

  By ljd42 on August 24, 2013

  Yesterday we had our final workshop of the summer, so we must be ready (hah!) to return to school on Tuesday. This workshop was titled “Learning Goals and Common Assessments.” You might be wondering what that means. I’ll tell you…. Read More ›

• Using web-based technology in math courses

  By ljd42 on August 23, 2013

  

  Yesterday we had a one-day workshop on using web-based technology in math courses. The premise was that  the technology used in our math courses has been almost unchanged over the past ten years, despite the big improvements in web-based applications that… Read More ›

• BYOT

  By ljd42 on August 22, 2013

  Just finished participating in a two-day workshop on BYOT, a.k.a. BYOD. If you’re not up on current educational jargon, you might not realize that the T stands for “technology,” the D for “device.” In either case, the idea is that… Read More ›

• Post #1000

  By ljd42 on August 21, 2013

  It was just over five and a half years ago, in my 500th post, that I wrote this: I’m pleased to have kept it up for 500 posts, and I’m looking forward to 500 more. And now I’ve completed those… Read More ›

• Isaac’s Storm and The Devil in the White City

  By ljd42 on August 20, 2013

  Having read and enjoyed Erik Larson’s non-fiction account of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, I decided to read his tale about the flood that… Read More ›

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