Recent Posts - page 92

  • Teaching science through language

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    We like to claim that linguistics is a science, but I’ve never before seen any explicit discussion of using it to teach scientific principles. An intriguing abstract from Anne Lobeck suggests some possibilities along those lines, particularly pointing out that linguistics… Read More ›

  • Why asking questions might not be the best way to teach

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    Some years ago, one of my students asked me this question: “Why is it that whenever I ask you a question, you always respond by asking me a question?” I was tempted, of course, to say “Why do you think… Read More ›

  • Among Others

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    I wish I had read Jo Walton’s Among Others when I was a teenager. Since this novel wasn’t written until 2011, I couldn’t have that opportunity. It would have had a big impact on my life. So I had to settle for… Read More ›

  • Significant figures

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    Math teachers and science teachers never agree about significant figures — neither about their importance nor about how to use them. Math books and competitions tend to ignore the issue, or else they promulgate arbitrary rules, such as “answers must… Read More ›

  • The City and the City

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    What an unusual novel! It’s billed as science fiction, but it isn’t really. It’s more like…well…geography fiction, or government fiction, or some other nonexistent category. This fascinating story takes place in the present day (more or less) in a  fictional… Read More ›

  • “What Math Students Say”

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    How many times have you heard math students say these things? (She isn’t one of my students, but she certainly could be.)

  • The WWW Trilogy

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    Yes! If you want to read a science fiction novel that holds your attention and makes you think, you should definitely read all three books in Robert J. Sawyer’s WWW Trilogy: Wake, Watch, and Wonder. Like much of hard science… Read More ›

  • Another math summer camp

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    You’re looking for a two-week math summer camp, aren’t you? Or perhaps you know an advanced student for whom this would be just the thing. While I don’t have any first-hand knowledge of the Mathematica Summer Camp, it does look… Read More ›

  • Excellent tech support

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    I know, I know, the title sounds like an oxymoron; no one ever gets excellent tech support. Mostly we like to grumble about how bad it is, and justifiably so. Mark Bernstein wrote an apt observation about this matter (on… Read More ›

  • The Other Wes Moore

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    By this point you’ve probably heard of Wes Moore, as he has been making quite a splash in the mainstream media from NPR to Oprah. After hearing him on NPR, I just had to read his non-fiction memoir, The Other Wes… Read More ›

  • Levels vs. tracks

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    Adult friends often ask me about “tracking” at Weston. Apparently they’re referring to their own high school experiences, in which a student entered high school in a certain “track,” such as honors or business, and then remained there forever. This… Read More ›

  • Shades of Grey

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    Don’t read Jasper Fforde’s Shades of Grey if you dislike offbeat science fiction. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Red Dwarf come to mind…although Fforde’s novel is a bit more down-to-earth, so to speak. Maybe it should be considered… Read More ›

  • Among Others: one comment

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    “Reading it is like being there.” That was a comment (on The Lord of the Rings) uttered by Mori, the narrator and protagonist of Jo Walton’s fascinating novel, Among Others. It was that comment that hooked me on this novel, which… Read More ›

  • A plate at Bella Luna

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    As is the case in most restaurants, when you sit down at a table at Bella Luna you see a place setting in front of you. But at Bella Luna you get a plate that has been drawn or painted… Read More ›

  • The Square Root of Murder

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    Of course I wanted to like this book. What could be better than a mystery about a Massachusetts math teacher? But unfortunately this novel by Ada Madison (pen name of Camille Minichino) falls flat, IMHO at least. Apparently my opinion is… Read More ›

  • MCAS again

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    It’s easy to find plenty to dislike about MCAS, but I was particularly struck by the cogency of Sanjoy Mahajan’s piece entitled “Public School Math Doesn’t Teach Students How to Reason.” Aside from the usual arguments against MCAS — it… Read More ›

  • Working hard is not enough.

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    This post, like part of yesterday’s, brings up an educational dilemma:

    On the one hand, we want students to work hard. That means that we need to provide incentives as rewards for working hard. Grades are pretty much the only currency we have in high school, so students expect to get good grades if they put in a lot of effort.

  • College-prep? City council candidates and math education!

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    City council candidates and math education? Those are two utterly unrelated topics, aren’t they? But there turns out to be a connection. First of all, this afternoon I had already been intending to comment on an op-ed piece from this morning’s… Read More ›

  • The age of distraction?

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    A recent article in Salon opens with the conventional view of “kids today”: They live in a state of perpetual, endless distraction, and, for many parents and educators, it’s a source of real concern. Will future generations be able to… Read More ›

  • Marcia Muller

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    Over the years I’ve read many books (more than two dozen) by the great mystery writer, Marcia Muller, who actually has a website now. Why is that surprising? Well, here’s the explanation in her own words: For those of you… Read More ›