Many years ago, my wife and I were at a volleyball tournament. We were fortunate to sit next to a high school (or maybe middle school) volleyball coach. He was big, friendly and knowledgeable. Let’s call him Jack. Jack told us that he was a math teacher. As I recall, he said he went to […]
More on The Atlantic’s Article on Teaching Math
November 13, 2013 by
(The article is here http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/11/the-stereotypes-about-math-that-hold-americans-back/281303/#disqus_thread ) There were some interesting replies to my comment on the article. I am posting my response to this one because it might be informative for some readers of this blog. It states my view, and probably the view of many others, of two of the problems facing professors now. The […]
Excellent Explanation of How to Teach Math in The Atlantic – But…
November 13, 2013 by
…as I commented on the site, where do we get the teachers? (The article, which I recommend is at http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/11/the-stereotypes-about-math-that-hold-americans-back/281303/#disqus_thread) “I am a former math professor. I totally agree with the author about how math can best be learned. There is a gigantic hurdle: where do we get the people (teachers) who themselves were taught […]
Addendum to “Peter Cappeli” Post – Another Testimony About Higher Ed
November 11, 2013 by
Dan Laroque put this comment on the WSJ “… In the latter years of my teaching career, it got very frustrated dealing with students and administration. The universities have literally turned the curriculum standards over to the students. It is all about garnering as many students in a major as possible with no rules on rigor. It is ‘take […]
Another Good Article by Miles Kimball & Noah Smith on Learning Math
November 4, 2013 by
The authors wrote a previous article for The Atlantic that explains the need for math in economics. Here is a link to a post on that article Need for Math to Study Econ – Excellent Description – But… They have now written their suggestions on changing how math is taught. The article makes a good point […]
How Can Frank Bruni Be Excited About Change in K-12 Without Change in Higher Ed?
October 29, 2013 by
Change in K-12 does matter but I don’t see how it can help a lot without the change in higher ed that I advocate here. Here is a link to his op-ed, followed by my comment. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/29/opinion/bruni-a-bold-bid-for-better-schools.html?ref=opinion&comments&_r=0 ” From whence cometh these teachers? They cometh from the universities, many of whom seek fame and fortune […]
The Economist Cover Story “How Science Goes Wrong” and NY Times “Risk Calculator for Cholesterol Appears Flawed”; Connected?
Both of these stories focus on what could be a failure of professionals to understand and utilize quantitative data and methods. In the case of the cholesterol test, I have no way of knowing exactly how the failure occured. But I am worried that it is symptomatic of our problems in higher education. I posted […]