Teaching Resources

Waiting for “Superman”

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This should be an interesting film. Here is a second trailer that gives you a better idea of how the film is structured and presented:

I’ll reserve final judgment until I’ve seen the actual movie. I will say that it seems to address a great need: the improvement of the educational system. I will also say this (again with the disclaimer that I haven’t actually seen how the movie addresses the issue): many of the problems that the trailer associates with faults in the educational system I believe can be traced back a step further to the disintegration of the American family unit. To me, this has placed a burden on the educational system to serve as foster parent and the system as it is currently structured clearly cannot carry this burden.

Of course, to those with eyes to see it is clear that problems facing the American family can also be traced back a step to what is ultimately a spiritual problem. There is such a close relationship in the chain of causation between spiritual lostness and educational lostness that I hope this movie makes one thing clear (at least for those with ears to hear): the American educational system is a mission field in need of workers.

Then Jesus went throughout all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”

~Matthew 9:35-38 (italics added)

Related: Tim Keller on Christian Cultural Renewal

Less Helpful Teaching

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(There is a video below that may not display if you are viewing this through Google Reader or something similar)

Sorry for the long delay between posts…and also the interruption of the series “Math in Process.” Graduating, relocating, and job hunting apparently take up your time. Who knew? Probably most people. I would say that we’ll return to your regularly schedule blog program after these messages but we both know there is about 50/50 chance of that actually happening until life slows down (it does slow down right?). So I’m not making promises, just sharing hopes.

Anyway, in the meantime I came across this video (by that I mean a friend sent me a link) and thought I would share it. I can’t remember if I have mentioned this here before I not, but I believe all mathematical problems throughout history can be broken down into three stages: 1) problem formulation, 2) theoretical abstraction, 3) multiple applications.

This is a poor example, but to give you an idea what I mean here we go:

1) Pythagoras needs to build a triangular ramp. He has a horizontal board that is 4ft long and a vertical board that is 3ft long. How long should he cut the diagonal board?

2) Turning the boards from the ramp into lines on paper, Pythagoras is able to determine the third side should be 5ft. He is also able to determine that a2 + b2 = c2 , a fact that is true but is not dependent on this specific ramp building project.

3) This new theory can now be applied to multiple situations, causing other problems to arise and the process to be repeated.

In my opinion, the number one reason students struggle with math because they are introduced into the subject in the middle of step 2. In word problems we attempt bring them into step 3 (without causing new problems). But students are rarely, rarely, introduced to step 1: developing the problem.

Here is a video that suggests ways we can get students back to step 1.

The Prelude (Warning: Literature Content)

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I promised at the onset of this website that I would provide content for people who classify themselves as mathematically-challenged. So I’ll take a break from the discussion of mathematics and process theology to give you an excerpt from William Wordsworth’s poem The Prelude. Also, I’m extremely busy this week and it is easy to cut and paste a blog post. So we’ll return to “math in process” next week.

Long time in search of knowledge did I range
The field of human life, in heart and mind
Benighted; but, the dawn beginning now
To re-appear, ’twas proved that not in vain
I had been taught to reverence a Power
That is the visible quality and shape
And image of right reason; that matures
Her processes by steadfast laws; gives birth
To no impatient or fallacious hopes,
No heat of passion or excessive zeal,
No vain conceits; provokes to no quick turns
Of self-applauding intellect; but trains
To meekness, and exalts by humble faith;
Holds up before the mind intoxicate
With present objects, and the busy dance
Of things that pass away, a temperate show
Of objects that endure