boxed math

 

 

unboxed

This is what we have meant for –  
#unboxed.
*We have defined “boxed” ed or *math or whatever as fixed content… the stuff that shows up on csap/act/sat…. included in that is the erroneous pedagogy that swims in teaching to a test.. funding for a test… etc.
Via this definition, we have found that assessment is our best friend…. and all this time it’s what has given us the most anxiety – and generally is sent straight to the recycle bin. We’re working on learning how to frequently iterate self-assessment – as one movement/flow of learning.
more on unboxed thinking/learning
*As long as students continue to take standardized tests as they do today, ie: CSAP, ACT, SAT, etc, the overall math content will be driven by the State Standards.
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a mash-up of #unboxed thinking

huge take-away from 2009:

Sugata Mitra’s – hole in the wall – kids teach themselves
Alan November’s – who own learning… learniing how to learn.
Dan Myer’s – less helpful – getting out of the way so that the above can happen’
huge take-away fromyesterday:
The above happening via cell.
While chatting with Hannah, she asks, what works in a diamond problem if 36 is on the top and and -20 is on the bottom. I see that she’s texting and think – cool, I ask, who are you texting… Upon learning over her shoulder, I see this.  texting to learn
huge take-away from this morning:
The following paragraph from David Warlick‘s…. jan 3 post
internet before www, learning before education:
Education is still characterized as a place you go, to get taught — where we teach and our students learn how to be taught. Yet, in the real world, learning is not something that is done to you, but something that you do yourself, in your own way, with your resources and sense of resourcefulness. I am not saying that every student moment in school is spent in passive receipt or that teaching should never happen. But “being taught” is still the character of the beast, and it is getting in the way of helping people learn to teach themselves.
how we’re currently defining –  
unboxed.
cool addition july 2010 from @wendydrexler and @ruthhoward while at least one of them is listening live to alan november:
nice – @WendyDrexler: @RuthHoward teacher as facilitator as kids have the pleasure of finding things out..(feynman)  http://bit.ly/cL5F2J (link to updated hole in the wall)
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oh my math
of math and men
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Seymour Papert – of math and men – aka: school/boxed math ..oh my math

i like to say.. there’s a big distinction between something i love.. called mathematics and something called math.. which is what we teach in schools.. that’s not a mathematics curriculum.. it’s a math curriculum

why curriculum..?

mathematics is an active intellectual activity.. and it means working at things where you’re using the mathematical ideas that you’re struggling with for a larger purpose.. and the idea that the larger purpose could be discovering something that the teacher has decided you’ve got to discover is not a larger purpose.. that’s just play acting.. and the kids are quite sensitive.. quite aware of that

i think at that age.. kids could be doing quite complex projects.. using computer technology or .. (we’re) doing a lot of stuff w non computer tech .. using mechanical things w leggo for ie and building devices w involving gearing and how to max the force or how steep a slope a vehicle can climb up

ie of probably not kids deeper problem.. (slope, gearing, et al)

there’s room in that for a lot of mathematical thinking.. which typically what you learn in middle school.. is not really what you need and even if it does teach you ..you..normally the kind of mathematical ideas you could use.. you don’t know how to use it

take multiplication for ie.. kids think of multiplication as something you do to numbers.. and you’re supposed to learn these mult tables.. and you do some rituals called.. multi digit mult.. but for me as a mathematician.. not dealing w multiplication at all.. you’re only manipulating the formalism.. and understanding multiplication is like understanding.. what is the kind of relationship between say.. time and distance and velocity.. why is that a multiplicative rather than an additive relationship

there’s nothing in the way that we talk about multiplication in elementary school.. for that matter in the kind of work that pre service teachers get.. that prepares them to even see that as a meaningful question.. it’s multiplication because that’s the formula.. but that’s not an answer.. mult has to do w a particular kind of relationship where there’s a certain kind of linearity and a certain kind of particular relationship of proportionality..

so.. i think they just don’t deal w the ideas.. and school generally is a little bit idea averse.. in mathematics it’s almost entirely idea averse.. you learn skills.. you learn how to do things.. even when you learn how to solve certain puzzle like problems.. you’re never dealing with the ideas

better yet.. since we have the means.. let’s deal with the curiosities.. via 2 convos.. as the day

ie: hlb via 2 convos that io dance.. as the day..[aka: not part\ial.. for (blank)’s sake…]..  a nother way

 

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