Author Archives: Ben Blum-Smith

Three foundational theorems of elementary school math

Posted on November 22, 2021 by Ben Blum-Smith

By Ben Blum-Smith, Contributing Editor This post discusses three very familiar facts from grade-school mathematics. In spite of their familiarity, I believe they tend to go under-appreciated, at every level of math education. In the elementary grades, my experience is … Continue reading →

Posted in Curriculum, K-12 Education, Mathematics teacher preparation | 7 Comments

Interactive Teaching ​IS​ Possible with Virtual Learning Technologies

Posted on April 21, 2021 by Ben Blum-Smith

By Enes Akbuga, Drake University (Twitter: @enesakbuga; Email: enes.akbuga@drake.edu) and Zachariah Hurdle, Utah Valley University (Email: zhurdle@uvu.edu) Many academics and teachers have been struggling with facilitating classes virtually. The 2020 global pandemic has brought many challenges and disruptions to teaching, … Continue reading →

Posted in Classroom Practices, Online Education | 2 Comments

Remote proctoring: a failed experiment in control

Posted on January 19, 2021 by Ben Blum-Smith

By Ben Blum-Smith, Contributing Editor Due to the global health crisis, a huge amount of instruction that was happening in person a year ago is now happening online. One theme highlighted by this change is the question of control. When … Continue reading →

Posted in Education Policy, testing | Comments Off on Remote proctoring: a failed experiment in control

A K-pop dance routine and the false dilemma of concept vs. procedure

Posted on August 18, 2020 by Ben Blum-Smith

By Ben Blum-Smith, Contributing Editor For reasons that will not be considered here, I recently learned this dance: Although I have no background in any style of dance, I can now do the whole thing, start to finish. I am … Continue reading →

Posted in Classroom Practices, Student Experiences | 7 Comments

The things in proofs are weird: a thought on student difficulties

Posted on May 20, 2020 by Ben Blum-Smith

By Ben Blum-Smith, Contributing Editor “The difficulty… is to manage to think in a completely astonished and disconcerted way about things you thought you had always understood.” ― Pierre Bourdieu, Language and Symbolic Power, p. 207 Proof is the central … Continue reading →

Posted in Mathematics Education Research, Student Experiences | 8 Comments

What math professors and k-12 teachers think of each other

Posted on November 18, 2019 by Ben Blum-Smith

By Michael Pershan, St. Ann’s School I. What do primary/secondary math educators think of the teaching that happens in colleges? And — the other way around — what do mathematics professors think of primary and secondary math teaching? I’m nearing … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Graduate Education, K-12 Education | 5 Comments

Some thoughts about epsilon and delta

Posted on August 19, 2019 by Ben Blum-Smith

By Ben Blum-Smith, Contributing Editor The calculus has a very special place in the 20th century’s traditional course of mathematical study. It is a sort of fulcrum: both the summit toward which the whole secondary curriculum strives, and the fundamental … Continue reading →

Posted in Faculty Experiences, Mathematics Education Research, Student Experiences | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments