With the implementation of AB705 coming in Fall 2019, I am currently teaching elementary algebra for the last time. I am using a flipped classroom approach, and I am really proud of how hard my students are working. (I’ll blog more about that in the near future.) This is a short-term class, and the plan was to teach new material for three weeks, then devote the fourth week to the midterm exam. I was going to review on Tuesday and…
On my StatBlog I put together a post about this spring’s StatCrunch contest – check it out here. This is a fun contest for students to use what they are learning in your Intro Stats class and use a set of data to tell a story. There are cash prizes for the top three finishers. Link to the Contest YouTube Conference Announcement Please share with your students. You do not need to be using StatCrunch in your classes – Pearson…
I was at a session at a small math conference last fall, and the presenter was going through their list of things students must do to learn mathematics. When the presenter said that students had to do things according to the instructor’s method (“They have to do it MY way!”), I am sure my jaw fell to the floor. In my experience you have to let students think and experiment in order for them to learn and understand mathematics. As…
Last month my wife and I visited the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. We saved their Pop Art collection for the end because it’s a light way to finish a day at the museum. We were admiring an Andy Warhol piece on Elvis when a guide walked up to us and asked us if we’d like to learn about a piece in the next room. We love to learn, so we took her up on the offer. It did not…
At the beginning of the new year I started a blog project called uCLID. Each weekday, and most weekends as well, I intend to work my way through one of the propositions is Euclid’s Elements. It’s been a lot of fun. You can keep up on my progress through the “Blog” tab on my website, or by going directly to this address: http://www.georgewoodbury.com/euclid/ I just posted Proposition 24 in Book 1 today, so that puts me halfway through Book 1….
In today’s class we ran into the trinomial This can be challenging for students just learning to factor because they are not familiar with the factor set of 208. Traditionally I recommend that students follow the 10-second rule: If you cannot find the correct factor pairing within 10 seconds, you should move on to listing all factor pairs of c. This would result in the following pairs: That means that students need to try 13 potential factors (1 through 13)…
I have two sets of final exam review videos on YouTube. The first playlist, for Elementary Algebra, can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCE703DB5743508D7 The second playlist, for Intermediate Algebra, can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL15AA6E8E21593D3D Please feel free to share with students and instructors who can use these. George