Changes to Intro to Computer Programming
August 23, 2011, 12:00 amThis will be my third year teaching Introduction to Computer Programming. The first year I had 15 students which was a good showing, but last year I only had 5 students. It turned out to be a scheduling issue, but I was still worried about the health of the course, and whether or not it would contin...
Why Hello…
August 20, 2011, 12:00 amI’m updating the hosting of the blog (among other things), so please stay tuned. Cheers. Dan.
Ants: Any questions?
August 6, 2011, 12:00 am
Teachers and Jobs Outside the Classroom Poll
August 5, 2011, 12:00 am@fnoschese retweeted the following stat on twitter:
It seemed a bit low to me, so naturally I started a totally unscientific poll. Please go here and fill out at least one of the questions. The results will be posted back here in a couple of days. Thanks much.
Dan
One Zipper Unfoldings of Polyhedra
August 4, 2011, 12:00 amFrom Make.
Just discovered this fascinating little geometrical recreation at the 2011 Bridges Math Art Conference galleries. The idea is simple, and the field still fairly unexplored, from what I can tell. What interesting 3D shapes can be made by zipping up the edges of a planar shape usi...
Altitude Sickness
July 29, 2011, 12:00 amAct 1
View from Pikes Peak:
On a trip out west with my wife, we took a trip up to the top of Pikes Peak by Colorado Springs. I’m calling this post Altitude Sickness because despite having this post in mind when we went up, I didn’t take the one picture that I wanted to take. Idiot. Nincompoop...
SBG: Please Help – A Question
June 30, 2011, 12:00 am
“Math class is tough.”
Barbie (1992)
How can I use SBG to challenge the top learners?
So after weeping quietly into my cereal while looking at the Geometry Regents results at the end of this year (just kidding, I don’t eat cereal, it was my toast), I noticed that I didn’t have as many “master...
Math Notebook Questions
June 22, 2011, 12:00 amEnd of the year reflection time.
In my 7 years of teaching, I’ve never required my students to have a math notebook. The sum total of my speaking on the subject is probably a couple of minutes at the beginning of year, “You need a math notebook or binder to write notes in and keep handout...
Dartboard Problem
June 20, 2011, 12:00 amFrom Infinigons, etc: Putting myself in kids’ shoes
You have a square dartboard. What is the probability that a randomly-thrown dart will land closer to the center of the dartboard than to an edge?
Superb problem.
I took the lazy route. I made a python program to run 100,000 trials, and graph...
SBG: A Small Tweak and a Feedback Inequality
June 16, 2011, 12:00 amThe grading system in Geometry this year was described to the students with the following description:
The final concept grade will be out of a grade of 8. The best you can do on the first quiz is a 4 out of 8 (50%). Every concept will quizzed at least twice. If the second grade is higher tha...