Posts tagged famly ed
Taxophilia
Sep 16th
I went and looked up math words for all the richness of creation from the Tuesday math club. Precise and deep language is a math value for a reason. Once we name something, it becomes a placeholder for a collection, a class, a group of similar objects. “This is a star.” This stage is not math yet, actually. It’s a dream of math to come.
Math happens when we notice similarities and differences. When Cindy made a 5-point star, then we observed it’s one continuous line (making it a knot) and then she made a 7-point star that was similar. And I made a 7-point star that was puzzlingly different. Wolfram claims they are 7:2 and 7:3 stars. Makes sense, now that we made them. But I hesitate to tell the kids yet! Maybe they will discover other things?! This is math proper. You purposefully create differences, keeping similarities, and observe what happens. Delta varied the size of her straws and made smaller and smaller stars. Carter built a smaller pyramid within a larger one. Ben and his family made pyramids with different polygons for bases: triangle, square, pentagon. Caedmon and Nannette kept a 3d pattern of attaching tetrahedrons to one another in a certain way, until a shape emerged – a deltahedron, we called it Caedmon’s shape.
There are layers and layers of noticing to be had. We need to return to activities again and again to reach more layers. That’s why geeks are often told, “You have too much time on your hands!” when an outsider realizes how much time is spent with a single activity. There are riches to be had ONLY if you spend the time, though.
Should we tell kids standard names, taxonomies, theorems? Yes, but! The dialogue with the past mathematics is a delicate matter. Kids are still finding their own voices. The sheer bulk of the past can easily overpower and silence them. My goal is for kids, by the time they dig up something like Wolfram’s star polygon taxonomy, to have made up some of their own names, taxonomies and patterns. I want kids to feel that theories they look up are sisters of theories they make up.
To accomplish this, we develop a certain rhythm of activities. Free exploration comes first, including “the naming of cats” by kids, and it’s a relatively slow stage. Then we need to spend enough time with the topic for kids to notice and to formalize some properties within it. This is tricky to accomplish, and many supposedly “math activities” never bother, either stopping at explorations or skipping to formalization. Notation, photographs, drawing, stories, videos, spreadsheets and other representations come into play, because they promote noticing. Kids can look up other people’s work when they first name objects, or when they notice and name patterns. At this formal stage, when kids compare and contrast different patterns, they are open to looking at quite a few of patterns created by others (existing math), without being overwhelmed. That’s where we can pass on some content from the past generations.
All you can eat soap
Sep 15th
The math clubs started today. Oh, the things we can do together!
There is a lot of writing going on in my life just now, so in lieu of a blog post, here are a couple of old Russian jokes.
A guy walks into a village store and buys a bar of soap, thinking it a food item. He takes a bite, makes a face, chews and swallows.
Shopkeeper: But sir, this is soap!
The guy, biting off another piece: Soap or not, if you paid money for it, you finish it!
Dmitri said, just before I ran across this picture: “All you can eat SOAP!” It’s a great metaphor – but for what? I think for automatically generated boring math exercises. Thousands of them!
“Lecturer remote control” is a Russian meme I can’t find in English. The remote control is usually hand-drawn on desks university lecture halls.
This contributes more to the theme of “Lectures that rock.” Here is what students want to be able to do to the lecturer…
Four large buttons: Off, Self-destruct, Fetch the beer, Smoke break
Two sliders: Volume, Tone
Three-positional regulator can switch to: Fairy Tale, Lecture, Joke
The display shows the time left till the end
The small button simply says, “Failure.” This is for when something miscellaneous is wrong with the lecture.
Smart or wise?
Sep 12th
We are starting three children’s math groups this week. There are a couple of openings in each. Please email me droujkova at gmail dot com or call 919-388-1721 if you are interested.
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If you have questions about mathematics education, software, games, learning issues, groups or clubs, please feel free to arrange a meeting to discuss it. I am of several worlds that provide for an interesting perspective together: a homeschool parent, a math club organizer, a researcher, a curriculum developer, an online community builder. These consults are free for local homeschoolers.
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Math Club for 5-7 year old kids and their parents will be meeting on Tuesdays, 10-11:30pm.
Math Club for 7-9 year old kids and their parents will be meeting on Thursdays, 2-3pm.
Both clubs will meet at 309 Silvercliff, Cary, NC which is about two minutes from North Cary Park. The clubs cost $15 for each six-weeks session, which covers healthy snacks and supplies for hands-on activities.
Each meeting starts by kids sharing their math discoveries of the past week. Then families lead activities and games if they bring any to share, and I offer explorations centered on a math topic chosen by participants at the beginning of each 6-week session. Parents can also participate by writing club stories, taking pictures, posing and answering weekly questions, or reading math books. Parents can choose to participate more or less actively; I am told by grown-ups they have a lot of fun with activities! We are also working on creating a “book of the club” capturing stories of each session for other groups who want to start math clubs.
Spring topic sessions included Infinity, Dimensions, Variables, Grids and Coordinates.
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Jenny Eggleston of Egg in Nest studio and I, together with an awesome group of Research Triangle, North Carolina homeschooling families started the Renaissance project in 2009 with Art+Math series of unClasses. In the Spring of 2010, the group created mathematical and artistic interpretations of the Carroll’s classic “Alice in Wonderland.” Our next adventure takes us “Through the Looking Glass” of the computer screen.
In the first half of each meeting, we will create art using digital tools and computer programming. No previous programming experience is assumed. In the second half, we will build on the same math and art concepts using traditional art studio media. Discussions of the philosophy of art and mathematics, debates, sharing of favorite poetry and songs happen every meeting, as we brainstorm together and build up our inspiration. For the regulars: yes, Jenny will continue actor readings of her favorite passages from the book!
We will meet on Thursdays from 10 to 12, starting in the third week of September and ending in the first week of December, for 12 weeks total. The total cost, paying Jenny for her time and for art supplies, is $195. The unClass is most appropriate for pre-teens and teens who love art, mathematics, or both. Math anxious people who want to develop their appreciation of mathematics through the humanities are very welcome. This is a high-energy group, working hard and playing hard.
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In October, I will be teaching online adult classes on two subjects. One is “How to organize family math clubs” and the other “Math-rich life with babies and toddlers.” The classes will have weekly online meetings and assignments helping people progress toward the goals stated in class names. If you are interested in signing up, please email me.
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Reference for the screencast: Smart, but not wise – a story of dome building
Content is hard currency
Sep 8th
I love and respect how “Sonlight” conducts its educational business, and my love is pure and platonic, because my own family isn’t in the target audience. Which “Sonlight” made quite clear with their “27 reasons not to use.” I want to be like this when I grow up.
Speaking of which, Derek Sivers claims that sharing your goals with others makes you less likely to accomplish them, because you have already been rewarded by becoming “someone who works toward that great goal” in everybody’s eyes. How can something like this be true for everybody?! It can’t, even the most primitive behavior mod like pain does not work for everybody, let alone complex social interactions. I bet there are types of people who can’t even get started without sharing, and then others who can’t keep going without sharing, and then others who can’t finish with sharing, and so on. Then there are types of goals.
The most recent research Peter Gollwitzer conducted had goals that were achievable in 45 minutes or less, given to subjects by others, in a room full of people, under observation. Does the same apply to long-term goals? Does it apply to personally meaningful goals? Goals people can accomplish only with the help of their communities and networks?
Also, what if the person needs more social satisfaction than accomplishments can bring to stay emotionally well? Advice that undermines coping mechanisms without offering replacements is dangerous.
A lot of community problems are solved with code, data and content. Joel Duffin’s work is a great example. He’ll be presenting today at Math 2.0 series about National Library of Virtual Manipulatives (NLVM).
Not too soft, not too hard
Sep 2nd
How do books come alive?
The new book format by Neil Stephenson is nice, but “too big” – it assumes hundreds of people at least actively geek about it, which means hundreds of thousands of readers.
The Ning format Steve Hargadon used for Book Discussions is “too small” – Ning groups are too fragmented for the purpose, though the idea rocks.
LivingMath reviews from Julie Brennan are “just right” – if they were in a wiki, or the Yahoo group discussions were public and searchable.
Let’s mix the three and make something like MathTropes (like TvTropes) for family math books.
Link to my 1997 picture at Shodor. The materials we made back then are still up, and used.
Birthday Cactus
Aug 28th
Katherine is twelve today. Wild! Her main “homeschool” activities now is this math encyclopedia research for my project, a Pecha Kucha presentation (“Maria! More than two hundred people already registered!”), “42 communities” rite of passage, and finding apprenticeships for the fall. Looks like it will be art and cooking. You are awesome, Katherine! I love you!
Here is the full video from that Physics+Modeling field trip. Skate rink works nothing like our physics models!
Never underestimate the power of dailies and weeklies. I am happy to see where Math 2.0 is going. It is turning into a hub I wanted to use and did not have two years ago. I blame weekly events. “We are what we repeatedly do.”
I hope Katherine’s costume party will catch “Through the looking glass” exhibit in ArtSpace. Several girls she invited were in our Art+Math Renaissance Wonderland unClass (long name, I know).
We will test the settings a bit more and then invite people who participated in math game discussions in with Colleen King, Dmitri Droujkov and me to join Colleen’s new forum.
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