In my previous post, I discussed one way to provide tasks that help students reimagine the discipline of mathematics: doing creative math. This post discusses the second of three strategies: doing useful math. To me, the interesting thing about math is that it is at once a plaything with seemingly no utility and an immensely … Continue reading Three Strategies to Help Improve Students’ Conception of Math – Part 2: Do Useful Math
Musings on Mathematical Creativity
This semester I had to write a literature review of a topic of our choice. Last year I focused on assessment, which will be my dissertation topic. I wanted to try something a little more “lighthearted” this year, so I went with Mathematical Creativity. I’m not going to reproduce my paper here, but I did … Continue reading Musings on Mathematical Creativity
Part 6: Scoring with Humility
This is the sixth and final installment of a mini-series on rubric design and use. Be sure to check out the other posts as well as the initial post. Your grades are qualitative data, not quantitative data. Whether you’re using a rubric on a complex task, or assigning a number out of 100 from a … Continue reading Part 6: Scoring with Humility
Permission to Practice
New Post: Using skills practice to foster permanent learning
How a problem becomes a lesson
Sometimes we overthink it. We (*ahem*) create big curriculum maps full of dynamic problem based lessons created by the most intrepid teachers on the internets. As useful and helpful as these are, the most reliable-to-hit-the-content, easiest-to-plan problems come from stuff that already exists. Textbooks and online problem sets are the most robust source of quality … Continue reading How a problem becomes a lesson
Here are your Algebra 1 and Geometry Problem Based Learning curriculum maps.
Yes, you can do wall-to-wall PrBL. Yes, you can align your PrBL curriculum to Common Core standards. Yes, you can do it all with the help and goodwill of the math twitterblogosphere. Note that these are just the tasks. They are not the facilitation notes, the scaffolding, the assessment. Just the tasks and problems provided … Continue reading Here are your Algebra 1 and Geometry Problem Based Learning curriculum maps.
emergent math 