teaching resources

The First Week of School

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The first week of school is in the books. Thus begins the season of the year in which I am continually challenged to consider how my faith applies to my teaching, yet I am also continually too busy to process those considerations in a formal way here on this site. Oh well. I will be trying my best to post on a regular basis. In the meantime, if you have thoughts of your own you would like to share please check out the contributing authors section.

I thought I would use this post to share some ways in which I try to get students thinking about the deep meanings of mathematics and to possibly consider the broader philosophical/spiritual pursuits that underlay the subject. Teaching in a public school setting I am somewhat limited in my ability to openly preach my spiritual convictions and the way they illuminate my understanding of mathematics. However, I have tried to be creative in my assignments and room decor, just to get people thinking…

Saying from Plato's Academy: Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here. In this context Geometry is not being used as a subject, but rather as a way of thinking: an appreciation for reasoning and logic.
Truth is worth pursuing. Accompanied by posters of historic moments in mathematics.
The language of mathematics is written everywhere. My goal is to have this wall filled with examples of student-found mathematics by the end of the semester.

Free Resources

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As the school year is fixin to (there’s a nice Texas phrase for y’all) begin anew. In this age of information there are some really great instructional resources available for free online. After researching, I have resolved to make extensive use of three such resources in my classroom this year. Feel free (get it?) to try them out on your own and see what you think and if each might work for you in your classroom. All of these are quality products, plus, you can’t go wrong with free.

  • Microsoft Math 4.0 – Provides a graphing calculator that plots in 2D and 3D, and step-by-step equation solving.
  • Geogebra – A geometry package providing for both graphical and algebraic input.
  • R – A language and environment for statistical computing and graphics.

Mathematics Through the Eyes of Faith

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Do mathematical concepts point beyond themselves to a higher reality? Can the idea of chance be reconciled with God’s sovereignty? How do we account for mathematics being so effective in describing the world? How does giving people the capacity to do mathematics fit into God’s purposes for humanity?

These are just a few of the questions tackled by the latest installment in the “Through the Eyes of Faith” series.

The book Mathematics Through the Eyes of Faith is available now! Order your copy here.

I was fortunate enough to receive an advance copy of this work at the ACMS 2011 conference. I have a full review pending with Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, so I will wait to post that here. But here is my short review: this is almost everything I would ever want to see in a book on mathematics and Christian faith. I strongly (strongly) recommend it to anyone interested in this topic.

UPDATE: Here is a link to the full review.

So go get a copy. I would love to hear what you think about it.