Tag Archives: K-12 mathematics

Putting Sums back into Summer

by Scott Taylor Colby College Waterville, ME  Every math teacher hears the “What’s it good for?” complaint. Even elementary students want to know what math is good for. But children, especially those who are at risk of not succeeding academically, … Continue reading

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Access To Epidemic Modeling

Kurt Kreith and  Alvin Mendle, University of California, Davis Covid-19 has left teachers seeking topics that are both engaging and lend themselves to online instruction.   As a guiding force for the measures that have reshaped our lives, epidemic modeling stands … Continue reading

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In Memoriam N. N. Konstantinov

by Mark Saul This summer marks the thirtieth year since the end of the Soviet Union.  It also marks the passing of one of the great figures of Russian mathematical culture, Nicholas Nikolayevich Konstantinov.  This note concerns both events, but … Continue reading

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Mathematics as Logic

by Mark Saul Maybe it is obvious, but it is something I’ve come to appreciate only after years of experience: mathematics is logic driven, and teaching and learning mathematics is centered on teaching and learning logic.  I find this to … Continue reading

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Happy New Year(?)

Mark Saul, Editor Mathematics and mathematicians rarely make press.  So it was a bit sweet, but mostly bitter, to read in the New Yorker of the deaths of John Conway, Ronald Graham, and Freeman Dyson, three great losses to our profession.  … Continue reading

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MATH ON THE BORDER: Working with unaccompanied migrant children in Federal custody

The events recounted here happened in January 2020. The program described has been suspended during the COVID crisis.  Perhaps there will be no need for it when the crisis is over.  Nadia looked at me with big brown eyes and … Continue reading

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THE ZOOM ROOM: Vignette and Reflections About Online Teaching

Mark Saul A child’s insight “I know how to find out how many divisors a number has. You factor it into primes….” Alejandro was with a virtual group of four enthusiastic ten year olds, in the midst of exploring a … Continue reading

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Writing Good Questions for the Internet Era

Jeff Suzuki CUNY Brooklyn The forced conversion to distance learning in Spring 2020 caught most of us off-guard. One of the biggest problems we face is the existence of free or freemium online calculators that show all steps required to … Continue reading

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Two More Teaching Vignettes

For this month’s blog post, I offer two more vignettes from my classroom experience.  My intention, as in the last column, is to communicate what I think of as the essence of teaching, which is the emotional—not just intellectual—bond between … Continue reading

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MATHEMATICS: GATEKEEPER OR GATEWAY?

Some recent writers on mathematics education have been talking about mathematics as a field enjoying ’unearned privilege’ as a ‘gatekeeper’ in our society.  The more I think about it, the less sense this makes. For some writers, the reference may … Continue reading

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