Mathematics education is controversial. Students from the United States do now fare well, on average, when compared to students on international assessments. Some argue that when you control for poverty and for the fact that all nations do not attempt to educate all children, students do just as well as students from the highest performing countries including Singapore, Korea, Finland and other mathematically gifted nations. The Common Core curriculum was developed in response to these international comparisons. However, these reforms have become politicized. The implementation has not been without its problems. Check out this article from the New York Times. Do you agree or disagree with the premise that teachers from the United States do not deliver instruction in alignment with the reform movement?
Mathematics applied to the modeling of diseases - glaucoma in this case
Econophysics!!! Who knew? Illusions - Scientific American Mind. This is a fascinating magazine. Here is an article about the mathematics of the electoral college. Measuring Twitter If Achilles Used Facebook...This is an article about using the mathematics of social networking to analyze literature.
Another article describes the application of a common probability problem to medicine and to the O.J. Simpson trial. This article is about epigenetics, not a mathematical topic but really interesting. Events in father's lives, for example nutrition during adolescent years, can have genetic impact on their children and even grandchildren. The NY Times recently published an article claiming that the forms of mathematics that are studied in schools do not lead to the ability to make better decisions. Rather, the requirements for advanced mathematics prevent many people from attaining their goals in fields other than mathematics.
On the other hand, an article about Robert Moses, a civil rights activist, describes how learning algebra, a course which is often a gateway to more sophisticated mathematical understanding and subsequent educational and career opportunities, is fundamentally a civil right. Please weigh in with your opinion! Then maybe I will tell you mine, which may surprise you. |
Sandi YoderI have been a teacher for 27 years, 14 of which have been in the Campbell High School IB program. Archives
August 2014
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