Here is an animation I created in GeoGebra: As far as I can tell, WordPress only shows you the animation once, when you open this post. You can find the actual .ggb file, and an interactive applet in your browser here. (Links to related transformations applets are on this page.) The idea was to illustrate reflection in… Continue reading User-Controlled GeoGebra Animation
Tag: Technology
Asilomar Report: Conic Sections
As my retirement starts to kick in, I no longer attend conferences — except for one: the annual meeting of the California Math Council (Northern Section.) Once again, I had a great day at Asilomar, a beautiful spot near Monterey, right on the Pacific Ocean. Here is my annual report. Conic Sections Figuring out an approach to… Continue reading Asilomar Report: Conic Sections
Freakonomics Radio on Math Curriculum
Every now and then, an academic decides they’re qualified to fundamentally rethink math education, and to share their brilliant solution with the world. That is already problematic when the academic is a mathematician or a math education researcher, but it is even worse when it is someone whose only connection to K-12 math education is that… Continue reading Freakonomics Radio on Math Curriculum
Learning from Teaching
Now that I’m retired from the classroom, summer tends to be my busy time. I just taught the grades 6-9 version of my Visual Algebra workshop. There were quite a few familiar faces among the participants. Some had seen me present at the Asilomar (California Math Council) conference, others at NCTM, yet others at a… Continue reading Learning from Teaching
Asilomar Notes: Story Tables
In my last post, I shared notes from the California Math Council meeting last weekend. I focused on a couple of talks about the use of technology (Asilomar Notes: Tech). Today I write about a different sort of tool, the story table. Shira Helft and Taryn Pritchard’s Asilomar workshop introduced us to this powerful representation of algebraic expressions,… Continue reading Asilomar Notes: Story Tables
Asilomar Notes: Tech
It is widely agreed among its attendees that the Asilomar meeting of the California Math Council is the best math teacher conference anywhere. Certainly, the setting is beautiful. Over the decades, I have attended some great talks there, and this year was no exception. I will post some notes and reactions here, starting with two tech-oriented talks I… Continue reading Asilomar Notes: Tech
Puzzles for the Classroom
In my last post, I shared some generalities about puzzle creation. Today, I will zero in on the specifics of creating puzzles for the mathematics classroom. I will do this by way of analyzing some examples. Multiple PathsA characteristic of all classrooms is that they are constituted of students whose backgrounds and talents vary widely. … Continue reading Puzzles for the Classroom
Stumped by Euclidea
I've really enjoyed solving the puzzles in Euclidea, a brilliantly designed app for iOS and Android. The basic format is "given this, construct that". You start with just two tools: a straightedge and a slack compass (i.e. a compass that does not remember the radius it was last set to). As you find useful and… Continue reading Stumped by Euclidea
More on Geometric Construction
(To search from previous posts on this topic, use the Search box on the right.) I suspect that by far the most common introduction to geometric construction in US classrooms is a presentation by the teacher (or textbook) on various compass and straightedge construction techniques. "This is how you construct a perpendicular bisector. This is… Continue reading More on Geometric Construction
Calculation
Many students have weak arithmetic skills. Many teachers blame this on calculator use, but it is just as likely that the real reason lies elsewhere. For one thing, the teaching of arithmetic traditionally does not involve developing any understanding, so the learning is shallow and fragile. For another, students correctly feel that mindless arithmetic is… Continue reading Calculation
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