A friend sent me this link to a New York Times article on improving lectures in university physics classrooms. A Toronto Star article based on the same research (led by University of British Columbia Nobel laureate Carl Wieman) is here. I would not be surprised if, after further testing, Wieman’s methods prove to be an … Read more
Jonah Lehrer, writing last month in the Wall Street Journal, makes the point that the kind of high-stakes testing popular in education is not very useful. He gives the example of supermarket cashiers who were given brief time trials to see how fast they worked. Careful analysis of electronic scanning records (for which cashiers did … Read more
Our region experienced very strong winds recently, and there was significant damage, with lots of trees uprooted or snapped, fences flattened, and roof shingles blown off. My in-laws had a chimney topple, thanks in part to an old-style TV antenna attached to it. So my father-in-law, my son, and I spent much of this past … Read more
In a previous post I wrote some advice on how to read a mathematics (or science) textbook. Having both taught and worked in the publishing world for many years, I have frequently heard (from publishers and other teachers) that students do not read textbooks. My experience working with students one-on-one has provided some details about … Read more
When I was a young and foolish undergraduate, Professor Blyth told us at the beginning of a math course how important it is to read a textbook several times. Once is not enough, he said. I recall very clearly how strongly he emphasized that reading a mathematics textbook is NOT like reading a novel. Years … Read more
On March 3rd, Diane Ravitch appeared on The Daily Show to promote her recent book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System (a New York Times review is here). It’s a great episode, and worth watching (here if you live in the U.S., here if you live in Canada). Ms. Ravitch discusses … Read more
One of the important skills that a mathematics or science student graduating from high school ought to have is the ability to quickly visualize the graphs of basic functions. The repertoire should include power functions, polynomial functions, trigonometric functions, exponential functions, and logarithmic functions. Having an instant and intimate knowledge of such graphs is a … Read more
One of the most important skills in “numerical literacy” is proportional reasoning. I was reminded of this earlier today when I went out to buy a couple of pies for this evening’s family gathering. The pies came in many flavours, and two sizes, 8 inch diameter and 10 inch diameter. There was never any question … Read more
Once upon a time, an instructor (whom I shall call Professor “A”) went on sabbatical leave. As a result, another instructor (whom I shall call part-time instructor “b”) was called upon to teach Linear Algebra III, which was normally taught by Professor “A.” All 16 of the students who attended Linear Algebra III had successfully … Read more
Today I handed back the graded mid-term tests in my first-year electricity and magnetism course, and the results were OK. The 2-hour test consisted of five problems and then a final 7-part question that probed for conceptual understanding. In the past I have asked students to write a paragraph about this or that, but this … Read more