June, 2011
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The Professor Mill: Sir Ken Robinson is Funny (and Right)
0.6% of the US population actually develops to fruition the ridiculous abstractions and notations that we spend so much time teaching procedurally obscuring during Algebra II. In today’s installment of Let’s-Change-Something-Right-Now! I present to you Sir Ken Robinson. Oh, you’ve already seen his TED talk a thousand times? Good, just click play, I’ve fast-forwarded for [...]
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Inquiry Stylee: Let the Modeling Shenanigans Begin (Constant Velocity Model)
So, I’m sitting in my modeling workshop right now trying to Piaget my way through the connection between Modeling, Inquiry and [anyqs]/[WCYDWT]/[WTFBBQ]. As I was driving from Iowa City to Ames (let’s not discuss how that makes me feel), I took some pictures at some silly frame rate. Let’s play practicum/open ended/omg-this-problem-is-awesome. Here’s the link. [...]
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TEDx Liner Notes: (Part 3) Radio Interview on American Reason
I was recently allowed to come on a local political radio show, American Reason, to do a little more in depth explanation of the raving psychopathy that was my TEDx talk. Dr. Tae joined us and really ramped up the philosophy. Listen in iTunes! Highlights: How do we know how long it takes for someone [...]
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Modeling Workshop: Week 1 (Fear and Respect The Hestenes)
Nominally, what Modeling Instruction appears to be is an attempt to formalize instructional strategies that actually track how humans learn stuff. Example: Funny thing happens => Curiosity piqued => Go back to task at hand => Eat sandwich => Funny thing happens again => Look for patterns => Near obsession with characterization to the point [...]
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TEDx Liner Notes (Part 2)
This post is a part in a series that expands on the talk I was allowed to give at TEDxEastsidePrep. In the first part I discussed the need to change our grading system so that feedback becomes a more formal part of the assessment process. I’ve been taking some heat for this one. Words like [...]
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TEDx Liner Notes (Part 1)
Thanks to everyone who has engaged with the TEDx talks over the last few days. I’m 100% planning to implement the ideas I put forward, and all of your feedback is crucial to making next year work (also needed: duct tape, calming herbal tea, and bottle rockets) First of all, the ineffable John Burk posted [...]
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Scoville Units: Chiles
I’m having a hard time getting this lesson to click. Here’s the graphic that the idea came from: Stolen from Penzey’s spices, but they totally wanted me to. Click to embiggen. I know there’s something good here. Something with the size of the peppers and the number of Scoville units, but I can’t quite [...]
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TEDxEastsidePrep: Tayh D Be
A huge thank you to Jonathan Briggs (@gotphysics) and the folks at Eastside Prep school in Kirkland, WA. Liner notes will be posted in the coming days. Recommended Supplemental Talks: Dr. Tae: Skateboarder. Professor at-large. Look for a ThThTh-Tae joint in the future. Dan Pink: This video explains the social psychology underpinnings of my talk. [...]
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Shortest Survey Ever*
I’m doing some guerrilla math-ed research for an upcoming paper blog post. Mostly because no research institution will have me (I smell like corn and bacon). So, without further ado: Be honest, it’s anonymous, and you’re not in trouble if you answer “No.” You are if you answer “Yes.” Kidding. Sort of. Nerd. I’m looking [...]