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Nix the Tricks
http://goo.gl/eudg3
Hate it when kids show up to class with math tricks that
shortcut real concept development?
When a colleague approached her to lament their students' grasp
of slope, Tina Cardone expanded the conversation -- first to
her math department, then to her online community. By sharing
methods that emphasize understanding over memorization,
together they have developed a group document of the "worst
offenders" to nix -- and their fixes.
Named after the sixth Math Practice of the Common Core State
Standard (CCSS), the current draft of "Attend to Precision" has
four themes: phrases to avoid, vocabulary, notation, and
"debate!" Mnemonics, cliches, and other tricks to nix and
fix include
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Evaluating Expressions: PEMDAS
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Evaluating Expressions: Two negatives make a positive
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Less Than/Greater Than: "Hungry" symbols
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What's the first step?
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Operations with Fractions: Cross multiply
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Multiplying Expressions: FOIL
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Solving Equations: The square root and square cancel
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Opposite vs. reciprocal vs. inverse
Beyond teaching in her Massachusetts public high school,
Cardone participates in professional development activities
such as the Program in Mathematics for Young Scientists
(PROMYS), Park City Mathematics Institute (PCMI), and Twitter
Math Camp. To contribute to the final document's formatting,
tagging, illustrating, and more, scroll down her blog post of
Saturday and complete the two-question survey:
http://drawingonmath.blogspot.com/2013/08/
nix-tricks-update.html
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Now taking place: math education conversation of the day
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"Now that the summer is coming to an end, I keep reminiscing
about all the schoolwork I used to have to complete over the
summer to get me ready for the next and upcoming grade. Every
summer I would have a summer reading book to read. I hardly
ever had math work to complete...."
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- Gina, posted to her blog
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http://mathforum.org/blogs/gina/
2013/08/08/back-to-school-work/
Insights into Mathematical Thought
http://www.nctm.org/catalog/product.aspx?id=14338
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) has just
released a new book all about the distributive property.
Each essay in the collection Insights into Mathematical
Thought: Excursions with Distributivity "encourages readers to
find new ways of understanding the significance and limitations
of a subject usually presented as purely logical and not often
connected with how the mind works in other domains."
Freely sample the table of contents and preface from the
book — available in print or digitally — as well as an
excerpt of the first seven pages of the opening chapter, titled
"Multiple Ways of Seeing." To save up to 25% on purchases, key
in the code that NCTM posted on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TeachersofMathematics/
posts/10152109811603747
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Now taking place: math education conversation of the day
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"I'm at a loss of words to describe the 'proofs' presented in
Geometry Module 1. The lack of rigor in notation drives me
nuts. There are several things about the CCSS I like, even
defining congruence via rigid motions; but having to unlearn a
course I've taught for so long with so much emphasis on rigor
is going to be very difficult. What do the rest of you think?"
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- Ronald, posted to the secondary (grades 9-12) discussion
group of the Association of Math Teachers of New York State
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http://mathforum.org/kb/message.jspa?messageID=9189132
My Congressional District Statistics
http://www.census.gov/mycd/
The U.S. Census Bureau recently released the first interactive
tool geared exclusively for the nation's congressional
districts — and it comes with a nifty widget.
My Congressional District serves detailed demographic, social,
and economic statistics about the country's 435 districts. The
education category, in particular, breaks out school enrollment
and educational attainment information.
Using the latest annual statistics from the American Community
Survey, the Census' app lets you take data about a selected
113th congressional district and embed them on your own
webpage. Just click "Download and Share" in the app's lower
right corner, then "Embed Widget" above the words "My
Congressional District."
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